Previously, in our last article, we showed how at the beginning of the Sales Promotion for “The Bluffs” subdivision – a single piece of property was sold for $500,000, and primed the Appraisal Pump for banks to loan on the sudden explosion of high price valuations in that neighborhood. This article involves a single piece of property at the entrance to the Choctaw Neighborhood, also sold for $500,000, just prior to buildout of that neighborhood.
On May 9, 2006, 3 small tracts of land (1.35 acres; 1.05 acres; and 1.5 Acres – see comments in attached plat) located at the entrance to Choctaw were sold for $500,000 in a Multi-Parcel Deed. The purchaser in The Deed Of Sale was…. the Big Canoe Property Owners Association. The Big Canoe Company was even kind enough to finance the sale for the Property Owners (Security Deed is included in the linked Deed of Sale above).
I have searched the POA Board Minutes of Meetings, and I can’t find that any discussion of this purchase was made. Granted, that is not that much of a surprise – the POA has a long track record of secret backroom deals with the developer – at property owner expense. Do you know that the recent 2016 Land Deal also never had any prior discussion of details in the POA Board Minutes of Meetings, until a vote announcement was sprung on Property Owners last minute, even as ballots were being mailed. Not much has changed in Big Canoe over the years.
Secret Negotiations. Property Owners Pay. Developer Gets Paid.
And for the record….. Property Owner LOT Valuations for Pickens County Property Tax Purposes in the Choctaw Subdivision are currently listed in a range of $125,000 to $150,000 each. The Developer, Big Canoe Company, still owns 23 (twenty-three) LOTS in Choctaw. All of their LOTs are assessed on the Property Tax Records at $27,000 each.
That seems to be either a “LOT” of money that Pickens County Taxpayers are making up the difference for – OR a “LOT” of money that the other Choctaw Residents are being overvalued on. And it all kicked off with “another” $500,000 Sale of Dirt – also coincidentally timed just prior to the first sales in a new Developer Subdivision.
Editor’s Note: We’ll be releasing a story in the near future detailing how Property Owner LOT investments have faired over time in Big Canoe…. from the initially released High Dollar Sales in these Developer Subdivisions (Wildcat, Bluffs, Choctaw, etc) – to the amazing Losses that investors have suffered in latter, and more recent sales.
Clarification: I want to end this article by clearing up something from our previous article, titled “In The Bluffs Neighborhood One Critically Pivotal BUILDING LOT has Dropped 91.2% in Value”. The article suggested that a recent lowball $44,000 sale could potentially be used to drive down Property Tax Values (i.e. Holding Costs for the Developer). I want to clarify two points: (1) The sale was listed as an “Unqualified Sale” which under normal circumstances should not be used by the County Appraisers in Tax Digest Valuations. (2) Roy Dobbs, the Pickens County Tax Assessor has a past history of not following the law, rules, or guidelines he is supposed to when running his office in regards to Big Canoe properties. Pickens County Tax Appraiser Roy Dobbs is already the subject of an investigation by this newspaper, and paperwork to launch a state investigation is being put together. Part of this involves other improprieties in the Bluffs that will appear in our next article, where more irregularities will become apparent.
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Peace,
– david / publisher of www.BigCanoe.org
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