Self Storage- beyond. Silver Lake Subdivision

Commercial Real Estate Investing

Self Storage- beyond. Silver Lake Subdivision

Henry ClarkPro Member

Developer · Member since 2020 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes

We sold our largest self storage location. See separate post. Wanting to reinvest back into the market so we do t lose out to inflation. Part of the funds we are closing on a five acre future Storage location. Will wait a year for building costs to go down

We also just won at auction 75 acres we will do a housing subdivision on. In another posting I showed our Journeys End subdivision we did. Sold out in one year.

Don’t expect this location to selL that quick with interest rates up.

75 acres of farm ground. 50 acres tillable. Rest is a big ditch with a running stream of water and very big cottonwood trees.

Auction process. We are currently on a 10 day tour in Italy. Rome, Venices. Assisi. Orvieto Cinque terre.

Looked the property with our realtor and decided on a top price of $9,000. Bid on $500 increments to $8,000 and then in $100 increments. He called us at dinner in Rome and let us know we got the property

Went down to the last $100 bid to $9,000 to win.

Next steps.
A. Meet with county road group and determine road entrance accesses. Key issues, we are required a minimum of 2 acre sites and 600 feet of road view each way.
B. Pull out our Journeys end subdivision covenants and update them. Since this is near Silver city. Might call it Silver lake since we will build 2 or 3 large ponds on it. Maybe 15 acres in total.
C. Determine if we will sell it all under a subdivision whose process took us about 9 months last time. Or just sell individual lots not in a subdivision. Which we just need to survey off and record.
D. Farmed land. We don’t plan to sell anything for a year so we only pay capital gain and not ordinary income tax. 38%?? Versus 20% tax.
E. Farm rental. Hopefully keep the same farmer. Currently $250 per acres on 55 acres. They have control until March 2023. Since I want access now to do some dirt work and also want them to farm a certain way might offer them the ground for 2023 for zero$. Plant 100% soybeans next year so ground is smooth and easy to plant grass seed into. Cornstalks would require me to disc them in.
F. Depending on driveway access break the ground up and establish lots.

Will keep updates along the way.

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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Talk about Real estate. Got done with our tour of the Vatican. Really impressed. Being from the Americas was surprised most of the construction from the 1500’s on was financed with gold from the Americas. Or at least that is what our guide said.

Stopped at a small cafe and had a tea. Always wondered what those people were doing sitting there. Well if you saw me I was on the phone calling our 3 dirt excavator contractors letting them know about our project. Will need about 2 or 3 large ponds built. Give them a chance to look over the property before we get back. Also talked with our realtor. Road access is the problem with this property. Depending on the county’s determination we might get 10 to 12 lots. To get more lots we may invest in concrete cul Desac roads about 200 feet in. We will be able to divide 4 to 6 lots off the cul Descartes. Versus maybe two on a shared driveway. Instead of 10 or 12 lots, get maybe 20.

Need to lay down my neck is sore from looking up so much. Great tour though
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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On the auction terms we’re 10% day of sale. Prepped both our banker and realtor.
Gave the realtor a signed bid sheet telling him how to bid and our limits. $500 per acre until he hit $8,000. Then $100 increments.
Told banker no more than $9,000. We were already pre approved based on other deals we have in play.
Realtor had to run over and get a cashiers check. He isn’t paid but he will get commission on lot sales

In Lucca Italy Inside the old city walls Roman square Risotto with fungi and gnocchi spinach Great way to do business and posts
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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@Jim Flynn
Need to do your business advertising in the business section.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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The math of our development. On 75 acres in a city structure you might get 300 lots. That would require a lot of infrastructure thus lowering the profit. Plus small lots wouldn’t fit in the countryside.
Our county requires each lot to have road access. You can do double,triple and we might try quadruple shared entry ways. Would need to do an easement so they use the same road entrance versus say 4 driveways side by side.
The next cleanest entrance would be a concrete driveway with either a cul desac or a drive through exit or loop. This would be 25 feet wide road with curbs. Based on a concrete road we just did. About 300 foot of 25 wide is around $60,000 with no cul desac. By shooting a Cocrete driveway in we could do at least 4 up to 6 lots. So one lot would pay for the road. Say orig ally 2 lots with a shared drive. Thus we would get at least one to three extra lots at 4 or 6 lots. Thus it is worth it at 4 lots and up to put a concrete drive way.

Stopped at a cafe next to the Siena Basilicus and Duomo. Might have the whole subdivision laid out before we get back.
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Zack Gill
Dallas, TX · Member since 2019 · 36 posts · 3 votes
3y
Looks like a great trip! I'm jealous of both your deal and trip haha!
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Won the auction bid. Came down to our last $100 of bid limit. Max'd out at $9,000 per acre on the 75 acres. The other person bowed out at $8,900. Lucky us. Made the 10% day of sale payment via
Made it back from Italy. Ate my way thru Italy, trying as many dishes as possible. Sometimes ordered two dinner plates. Only gained 2 pounds, which is great. Already lost it, so even better.
Have two days to catch up, then off to Belize for our Teak Plantation. Need to clear brush and plant about 10,000 trees. So, if you have a post and I don't answer, I will catch up in about two weeks.
Road Entrances:
How many lots we get on these 75 acres is dependent on the number and types of driveway entrances we get approved. This subdivision is in the county and not the city. Met with the County supervisor who is in charge of road entrances. This will predetermine this project financial success.
Types of drives:
1. Private Drive- County does not maintain. Have to get definition and building stipulations tomorrow from the County Engineer.
2. Single drive
3. Shared Drive- can have up to two or maybe three. They normally don't approve 4 or more. The shared drive concepts becomes important as you understand the "Line of Sight" discussion below.
4. Concrete road with Cul De Sac at the end. If you do a concrete road into the property, then they will allow you to spin off many roads internally off this road the single driveway access. This becomes a cost/payback issue. For example, say a 200 foot road with a Cul De Sac costs $100,000. Then you need to at least sale one more lot for $100,000 to break even.
All county properties have to have their own legal access; or a concrete Cul De Sac to access the property. You can't segregate a lot that requires a Legal Easement across another property.
Line of Sight:
This property is a rectangle and has roads on two sides. A Major and a minor.
Minor collector- 55 mph, 610 feet line of sight each way, 300 feet between road entrances, 100 feet away from cross roads.
Local- 35 mph, 300 feet line of sight each way, 300 feet between road entrances, 100 feet away from cross roads.
Grandfathered- Since this is zoned agriculture all existing entrances into fields are grandfathered in. You can ask to have them moved.
The problem with this property is the long side of the rectangle basically two 40 acre sites back to back or 1/2 mile long on the back side, getting access to it. Also, we will have the issues of Electric and internet fiber optics back there; along with road cost. Normally the buyer would have to foot these costs, but this will put most buyers off investing a quarter mile in road, electric, fiber optics before even building.
Met with the County manager to go over entrances. You will probably ask why I am spending so much of this post on the Drive way Entrances. Again, the entrances and types in this country setting or rock roads will determine the number of lots we can do, and the financial success of the overall project.
Entrance 1- Accesses the long 1/2 mile back side of the property. Existing farm entrance grandfathered in. Roadway is 23 feet wide thus fine on width. The tube or culvert is in good shape. In our county you pay for the first culvert or tube, after that if they need replaced, the county pays. Can only put one entrance here. Of the original 80 acres, 5 acres was segregated for a farmhouse. We are less than 300 feet away from it, and rules say there must be 300 feet between driveways. Here we can access for a Shared drive for 3 house lots. Problem is we want 5 or 6 lots on this side which is across the creek from the other road side.
Entrance 2- Existing farm access road is at the extreme edge of the field, making subdivision hard. He will allow me to move the entrance to 100 feet minimum from the road intersection. This will allow us to do a Share drive for 2 or 3 lots. This will require us buying a Culvert and paying for it to be installed. Depending on the size of the culverts they may cost $1,500 up to $5,000 to both purchase the culvert and have it installed, dirt added and compacted.
The next entrances are along the long side of the rectangle on the Major road.
Entrance 3- This would be a new field entrance. It is both 100 feet or more from the intersection. Also has 610 feet line of sight both ways. This will be easy to approve.
Entrance 4- Entrance 3 and 4 are separated by a ditch. Entrance 4 is on the extreme edge of this next piece of property. Keep in mind there is a big ditch in the middle and large ditches along this road. This entrance is grandfathered in as an agricultural entrance but is too far to the edge to help divide this location into lots. In the middle of this lot is a large hill on my side where they cut through a hill. Will bulldoze down the hill. Ask the county to allow me to move this driveway entrance to there. We will then have 610 of line of sight since we are on top the road crest and be over 300 feet away from any other driveways. Will go for a Shared driveway for 3 lots.
Entrance 5 and 6- The grandfathered farm entrance is close to the crest of the hill. Due to the road having a crest, down both sides you can't get 600 feet of Line of sight. Proposed asking the county to lower this road crest to flatten out the road for line of sight. Then I will ask for two entrances, both of which will be shared entrances. Entrance 6 will shoot straight to the back to a dam across the big ditch, to access the backside of the long 1/2 mile backside to help create two lots back there.
Some of the entrances are easily approved or we will use existing farm entrances. Others will require approval.
A. I fill out Entrance applications.
B. County Engineer approves or denies.
C. I file a Variance if it was originally denied.
D. County Board of Supervisors approve or deny.
Sorry couldn't get the below forms flipped.
Now I fill out these forms for each entrance. They get approved or denied by the County road manager.
Then I ask for a waiver if denied from the County Board of Supervisors.
Then I get a cost estimate and see how much this dirt work will cost and if it makes financial sense. If it doesn't, then I come up with a different game plan.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Will meet with the Surveyor to make a preliminary sketch and layout tomorrow. This will be needed to show the County Board of Supervisors what I am requesting. The verbal above is hard to follow, so the sketch will make it easier.
Already requested the property to be surveyed. About 2 to 3 weeks out. Which is fine, since we still need to close on November 4th.
Below is a map showing the entrances discussed above and the ditches.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Talked with one of the Dirt Excavator companies today. They can get started around the 1st of November once things are approved. Will need to get some estimates.  Have actually 4 different excavators I have done business with. Trying to choose who has the equipment and people power to get these projects done. We have been dry and on the edge of a drought area. Would like to take advantage of the dry soil to do all of this dirt work this fall and winter.
Dirt work:
Entrance 1- build a road going along the back side of the property to be able to access proposed lots.
Entrance 2- Put a culvert in and level off an entrance and road way.
Entrance 3- Put a culvert in and level off an entrance and road way.
Entrance 4- Flatten a small hill and put in a road way. No culvert will be needed since the entrance will be at the crest of the hill and no water will channel through that spot.
Entrance 5 and 6- Level the county road and then put in two entrances. Should not need culverts.
Dams- you can see two oblong circles over the ditch. Plan to build two dams. Will do pictures at a later point, but just for reference, these ditches are 30 to 40 feet deep.
Prioritization. I don't actually know how much all of the work above will cost at this point. Thus, I will need to prioritize what gets done so we don't run out of funds and have key elements not completed.
We could do this development without the Ponds, but that is part of the draw factor to the Subdivision.
Subject to County approval: Priorities.
1. Lower the road where entrance 5 and 6 are noted. Without entrances 5 and 6 we won't be able to put in 6 to 8 lots at this location, maybe only 3. Also, this will be the entrance to get to the dam, to access lots on the far side. So roughly 10 lots versus 3 lots depend on approval for this lowering of the county road.
2. Build the dam across the ditch near entrance 6. This gives access to two lots across the ditch and adds the pond or water factor for people to want to live here.
3. Knock the hill down at Entrance 4. This makes it easier and safer to put in 4 lots versus 2 lots.
4. Worst case I can do most of the work at entrance 1/2/3.
5. Last would be the second pond.
Will have to get an estimate. This could be in the $100,000 to $200,000 range.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Fiber optics internet cable. Is just down the road. They are currently installing throughout the county. Need to have to run it down our road.
Electric- none along our road side. Need to get with Electric company to run along the road.
Both of these would like to do after we have leveled the hills and crests of the roads.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Business logic- if the economy is going bad and interest rates are going up, why invest now?
1. We have extra money coming from some other deals. Want to invest in REI versus sitting on cash being devalued by inflation.
2. Could pay down debt with the extra cash. But we are positively cash flowing on all of our current investments after P/I. Why pay off low interest loans now, when you will be paying them off with Cheaper dollars due to inflation in the future. Most of our Debt is locked up in 10 and 25 year amortization periods. Our remaining 5 year balloon loans, we are refinancing and converting to 7 year balloons. From the prior Subdivision Journeys End, we took those proceeds and paid down a lot of debt so we are in a very favorable Loan to Value position. We would have to go into a Depression for our banks to "Call" our loan positions and since we are making payments and Loan amort periods are so far out, no need to pay down further debt.
3. Most Recessions only last up to two years. It will take us a year to get most of the work approved by the county and performed.
4. We don't plan to sell for a year at a minimum so we pay Capital gains tax rates at 20% versus if we sell withing 12 months of purchase, it would be Ordinary income at say 38%.
5. We are in the Midwest. Our economy doesn't go up or go down to the extremes as other states. Thus, our risk exposure is not as great.
6. We have a housing shortage now in our area. Will have a housing shortage during and after a Recession. Thus "Lot" sales are still in high demand, or will be now or in the next 2 years. Being in the Midwest we don't have many AirBNB properties, so there is no chance if the economy goes south and REI investors have to sell their AirBNB's there will be a flood of houses on the market, pressuring our Building Lot sales.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Financial/Deal logic:
Land 75 acres at $9,000= $675,000
Dirt work- $100k to $200k; say $200k
Construction interest- normally construction period interest is what puts pressure on Development deals, especially Subdivisions. Again, we are using money coming from other deals, thus we will zero or minimal Construction interest expense.
Electric/FiberOptics- should come "down the county road" free. If I need to bring to the lots, due to multiple lots or to make the far back lots appealing, then this may run into $100,000 or up range.
Surveying/Legal costs- say $10,000. Legal costs should be lower since we will take our prior "Journeys End Subdivision" covenants and just update them. Same with Easements for utilities and shared roadways, will just update our existing documents. Don't have to re-create the wheel.
If we total the above, we are in the $1mm range for costs, with some fat.
Worst Case:
Our lots will run in the $100,000 to $150,000 range. Using the lower end of both lot prices at $100,000 and number of lots say at 12, our gross would be $1,200,000 in sales price. Less 7% sales commission of $70,000. Our net would be around $130,000 ($1,200,000- $1,000,000- $70,000). Not a great return for the effort. Our last Subdivision sold out in a year. It is a far better location. This location is in a good location but will probably take longer due to both the economy and it is further out.
Best Case:
Our lots average $115,000 and we have 20 lots. Gross would be $2,300,000. Commissions would be higher or $140,000. Thus, our net would be around $1,160,000. Nice return for the effort and say 3-to-4-year process. So, the number of lots and the Driveway entrance discussion is critical to the financial outcome.
The above is a really rough cut. There are always many other costs. Planting Trees. Renting equipment to do clean-up work. Stocking the fish ponds.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Farmer:
Of the 75 acres there is about 50 acres being farmed. Crops are harvested. He has control thru believe March 1, 2023. Don't know the rent, but around 50 acres time $200 or $10,000 per year.
We don't want any more row crops planted so we have access to do road and dirt work. Also, the $10,000 is not enough to potentially getting in the way if we need to do more dirt work later.
Talked with the Farmer today. He gave permission to do dirt work now. Also told him we didn't want row crops anymore and wanted to plant grass. It will take about a year for the grass to grow and several mowing's to keep the weeds down. It would be at our cost to plant Grass seed. Luckily, he does cattle also and can use Alfalfa hay. We agreed he would plant Alfalfa next year. Slowly this will have grass start to grow. He would be allowed to lease for another 4 years. This saves us the costs and time to plant grass seed over 50 acres. This could run around $30,000 for me to plant grass seed.
Have to figure out terms so we can sale lots, and how to make him whole as he starts to lose different lots from farming.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Next steps:
1. Fill out Drive way entrance forms.
2. Meet with surveyor tomorrow and develop a sketch of the property and work to be done or requested.
3. Fill out Preliminary Plat Application for Subdivision.
4. County Board meetings and votes.
5. County Board meetings seeking public input.
6. Fill out Final Plat Application.
7. Perform a Perc or Percolation test. This is needed to see that the soil type will allow for private septic systems to get rid of water into the ground.
8. Water- these will be on private wells. We are supposed to test underground water availability. This would mean we need to drill a test well costing around $7,000 or get the Well driller to write a letter stating there is water in the area. All lot sales are contingent on them having a suitable water source.
9. Soil/Conservation department- put plans to mitigate soil runoff.
10. State Soil department requires a plan to mitigate soil discharge into water streams. By building our lower dam this should cover any downstream issues for silt.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Water test for county subdivision checklist. Asked the neighbor who is on the same section of ground to use their water well as our test well. Used my phone stopwatch for one minute and used their outside faucet to fill gallon containers. 8 gallons per minute at a well depth of 125 feet. This is good enough. Our other development they are getting around 20 gallons per minute. Saves me drilling a test well or getting a statement from the local well drilling company.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Percolation test for County subdivision check list. Since we will do private sewer leach fields this is to make sure the gray water will soak in fast enough.
Started at 11:30 am and finished around 8:30. At a minimum you dig three test holes no deeper than 36 inches. We did 30 inches.
For the Pre-soak period need to keep the holes filled up to 12 inches with water for 4 hours. This is to simulate the leach field already being wet or in use.
Percolation test- Then you fill to 6 inches every 30 minutes and measure the loss of water during that time. Once you get two consecutive readings of the water drop within and 1/8 of an inch then you can stop. Or I had to keep doing.
Then you calculated MPI or minutes per inch of drop. Example : 30 minutes divided by 1 7/8 inches equals MPI of 16. Then you take the average of your three test holes.
How did I kill time during the 20 minutes? Did BP posts.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Road Entrances. Have 6 entrances we are requesting. This is off county gravel roads. They require a line of sight 600 feet each way. And 300 feet between each driveway. The county approved entrances 1/3/4.

2/5/6 were denied due to not enough line of sight both ways. Put in a variance for number 2. Line of sight is good to the north, to the south we only have 350 feet. But that is to a 4 way stop intersection. Will probably get this approved.

Entrances 5/6 is a bad crest in the middle. We can raise our side up to the crest but it will take a lot of dirt. Will work with the county.

Entrance 1 is approved, but I need 6 to 8 lots for this one entrance. Will have to see if they will allow a Private Drive with maintenance covered by an HOA agreement.

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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Closed in the property today. 30 days after auction date. Signed documents today.
Met with banker at close. Loan will be interest only for 13 months. We have extra funds we were parking in a CD. Moved these to this bank. Signed them as collateral against this loan. Getting 3% on the CD. They will charge 2% points above that or 5% with the CD as collateral. Our rate after the fed increase yesterday would have been around 6.75%.

This keeps us in a cash available position with the CD. We did not use the land as collateral so it is still available. We still get a good CD rate but we get a 5% versus 6.75% rate on our construction loan. A savings of 1.75%.
We are putting a lot of collateral and cash into this deal. Most of the time Finance cost is what kills development deals during the construction and Sale phase. You do have to look at opportunity cost but we are more than covering that.

On the county board agenda in 2 weeks to go over the Entrances we still need.

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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Met with Soil Conservation group this morning. Gave an overview of all of our soil disturbances, what for and how we will handles. Left them to discuss. Will get a list of proposed conservation measures.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Started transplanting trees along side of old farmhouse for visual break. Using 6 to 10 foot white pines. They grow fast and do well up here. Watered them in with the neighbors water. 8 gallons per minute for 15 minutes. Soaked the site. This will help to seal the air holes. Plus soak the area. We are really dry. If we don’t water well the soil around the new tree will suck the moisture away from the tree.
We are about 6 miles away from the tree farm. The tree mover is charging $150 per tree. Two years ago he only charged $80 per tree. Inflation. Guess it hits everywhere.
Will plow some ground in this same area to plant small seedlings next spring. Can use to transfer trees in years to come.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Road entrances- met with county board. They approved our Variance request for Entrance 2. Again, we need 600 feet of line of sight for an entrance onto the county road. We only had 360 feet to the south towards an intersection. They approved since the 600 feet is based on traffic at 55 mph and the intersection they are at a stop.
Entrances 5 and 6, are not going to get approved. Turned in an application for an entrance between them (5.5) at the crest of the hill so we have 600 feet line of sight both ways, which was approved. This creates a problem since we don't get extra lots if we don't have the extra entrances.
Our County does not allow "Private Roads", thus I turned in a Variance for driveways 1/4/5.5. Will meet this Tuesday to go over. They should turn down since the ordinances say no "Private Roads". A "Private Road" is a road into a Subdivision that is maintained by the Subdivision. History- our county was the last in Iowa to implement Zoning in the County. They copied a neighboring larger counties ordinance. We had several Subdivisions that have Private Roads before Zoning was implemented, but no one in the last 10 years has put in a subdivision calling for a Private Road, so I'm the first to challenge.
Private road- As part of your Subdivision Covenants you put together an HOA that charges $xx per month for road maintenance. The County still charges the same taxes and does not give you a break. Even though they do not maintain.
Problem with Subdivision and Private Road ordinances. Even if they approved the Private road you have to either build with 7 inches of concrete and 24 foot wide road to county specs, or use 8.5 inches of Asphalt. House on each side must have at least 300 feet of road frontage and 2 acres minimum. Only getting 2 lots, one on each side every 300 feet, you can't make money. I will ask for a Variance if the Private Entrance is approved to use Rock as a surface. Again, we are out in the county and our roads are rock. They require us to use concrete while they use rock.
Most of the above will get voted No. Then I will ask for them to hold a Public Forum to discuss Private entrances and Subdivisions. Basically, our county is restricted in growing, using these ordinances.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Got excavating equipment on site. Working on all entrances. Entrance 3 is done, with Culvert installed, see below. Bulldozer is putting driveway in place. Entrance 2 is waiting on a Culvert, they are 3 weeks out, tight supply. Entrance 1, will get to.
Entrance 4 below we are cutting down the hill to get to road level. This dirt is being used to add entrance 5.5 and will also be used for our dams. The hill we are cutting down was about 35 to 40 feet high, you can see the other side of the road how high.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Texas, no zoning in the counties. I would be doing these subdivisions all day long down there, near the growing metro areas of Austin, San Antonio, etc.
Below we are using a skid steer to clean up the brush along the edge of the farm fields. This will give a cleaner "Forest" look to the property. Easy work makes the place look better. Will go through and clean up by hand what the skid steer missed. 14 degrees in the morning, got to love it.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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To re-iterate from above, I think. We had funding from the sale of another property we were looking to invest. This is not borrowed money. Right now, is not the best time to start a subdivision, since if you don't sale and your financing, the interest cost will eat your profit up. We are not worried since we are just selling Lots and not spec homes. We still have a shortage of houses, and the builders can't keep up. The people who buy our lots will be higher wealth or income people who will still move forward in a questionable economy.
Are we correct or not. But as I tell people, it's your money. Your correct whether it's a success or not. Always hold yourself accountable. We are ahead of the cash curve since we have had two large sales and they were both favorable.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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Woo Hoo
Met with the county board. They approved our variance request for “Private Roads”. Plus rock roads versus concrete or asphalt.
This is really big since Private Roads are not allowed per the ordinances and rock roads aren’t allowed for Private roads.
Will still need to meet county building specs on road widths and slopes.
As noted in a post above the key to this developments success is the number of lots we can make. Around 12 is break even and 20 or more is great. With the Private roads we have a great subdivision.
Now that road entrances are approved and private driveways we can lay out the lots. Will mark the roads. Have the surveyor lay the roads out. Then we will set out the lots. Then survey and mark them.
Guess we get our cake and eat it too.
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Henry ClarkPro Member
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There is a small silt pond already on the property. Talked with the Excavator contractor and decided to clean it up first. Most bang for our buck. Four lots will have access to this pond. It will mainly be for show, although we will dig out to 8 feet which is needed for the fish to survive at a minimum due to freezing conditions. This ponded is silted in. Only about 1 foot of water depth. Will clean out the silt by about 5 feet. Build dam up 3 feet more, for the total 8-foot depth. This pond should not silt in as bad in the future. The farm acres above are not "terraced" and will catch most run off. Will cost about $5,000; but will both add value to the 4 adjoining lots and make them sell quicker. People like Water, Trees and rocks. Will put granite boulders in the spillway for looks. Some flat Limestone slabs for benches and tables.
You might sometime hear me talk about I like ugly and nasty properties. The pond below looks nasty but will be beautiful when finished, and brush is cleared, and grass seeded around edges.
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