Town Prevents Investing

[dng31]

I have a situation. I have a home owner who wishes to get out of her situation and is willing to discuss any issues to getting rid of her property. The problem is the town that she lives in.

The town does not allow any creative real estate deals and must approve the buyer to be allowed into the town. The town council must interview any perspective buyer to be voted into becoming a member of the town. The land is leased to the homeowner for 99 years and its encumberance is allowed by the US Constitution.

No flips, no rehab and sell, etc.

The website for the town is Free Acres (http://www.freeacres.org)

Can you provide a course of action?

Dan

[dng31]

With the lack of response to my posting, I thought I'd end this thread myself.

The home is in Free Acres. Free Acres is split into two towns. The two towns are in separate counties.

The home is located in Watchung, NJ but the address is listed as Berkeley Heights, NJ. Watchung, NJ is in Somerset County and Berkeley Heights is in Union County.

The good part of this association set up is low property taxes and the idea of a self sustaining government.

The bad part is more regulations to follow. It is not considered discrimination for a town to vote and tell a perspective buyer that they do not fit into the social standing, financial standing, or class of people within this community.

I've already decided to stay away from this as an investment. It does resemble the 1998 film, Pleasantville starring Toby Magire or the 2004 film, M. Night Shyamalan's The Village.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone.

Dan

[investinAK]

That's very interesting....and creepy. Reminds me of Stepford Wives.

happy investing,

Ryan

[optionfl]

i don't think so.forget about it, move on :icon_mega

[ZNICK]

It's not a town, it's a subdivision that has convinced itself it's a town, lol. It can't be a town or city if it's IN Berkeley Heights.

In any case, you are subject to the subdivisions rules anyway.

Z

[eldorado]

What idiot that isnt able to think for himself-would want to live in a place like that?
Manditory tree planting?
Gimmie a break!

[dng31]

Look on the bright side, they may be responsible to an association but they have controlled property taxes better than any other community. For those that want long term living, it may be perfect for you.

Not for me. I like to buy and sell. I didn't invest in the area.

[Brian Barringer]

There is a place like that in tracy. It is called the river club. they are actually a club and they vote people in. One would have to have 2 members vouch for them then you go up to a commite for vote. It has kept property values there really low. You do not actually own the land and there are all kinds of silly by-laws. It is a very interesting idea having an assocation and having people build homes on the land and not actually owning the land. The place I am talking about it at 3000 Kasson rd. near Tracy, ca. There are about 700 homes out there all built bettween 1940-1960. people have a hard time selling the homes once they buy them and usually get what they payed for them or less.

I bet they are a non-profit corp that may be why it is a .org website not .gov and I think it would/should be unconstututional to deny people citizenship to anyone who has the money to buy a home in a city or town any place in america.

[eldorado]

If I wanted to build a home on leased land,
I'd go back to mexico!
Can you believe this 4500 sqft. palace only sold for 80K?-After being on the market for 3 years!
All because of the lease-and the unscrupilious owner and his fraudulent pratices...
Leased land is too damn risky
And I'm sure not gonna live where some retired idiots with nothing better to do-can tell me how to live my life..
Here's whaty you can expect living in a leased community...
*Fines for letting your dogs run loose-Who do a better job of security than the idiots they hired
*Permits to paint your house
*Permits to plant a garden
*Stringent permits on what you want to do to your own property
*Sales deals being squashed by some idiot comittee-cause they didnt like the way the new owner looked (long hair)
*Limits to the amount of vehicles
*Security force peering in your windows
*No cap on tax increases
*Resale force not reselling your home-due to lack of commissions
*Ridicilous rules and regulations to live by..

:mad: No Thank You! :mad: