Is the Nature Conservancy Paying Fair Market Value For Their Properties?

Is the Nature Conservancy Paying Fair Market Value For Their Properties?

Depends on what you consider fair I suppose.

They own at least 59 properties in Norfolk County now.  It's a bit tricky to find all the details because as NCC was looking to buy all the farms in Norfolk they used various tactics to do so.  At first blush it would appear they were buying everything for $2.  That's not exactly the case as you dig deeper though.



They went on a buying spree in 2005 but didn't want people to know who was buying it so they used a local Lawyer by the name of Robert Hall who had what I'm assuming is a trust setup for them.  Maybe he had a change of heart at some point and then they needed to hire a different Laywer named Don Macintosh who did the deed after that.  The properties were purchased through a trust and The Nature Conservancy paid $2 for the properties from the trust.

I don't know how they put these purchases on their books as assets.  If they have them down at a price of $2 but they have the real cost in the trust it could show that they have a ton of land assets that they paid next to nothing for.  Hence they become on the top list of Charitable Corporations and people and corporations would line up to donate to them.

In the full colour, non-recycled paper brochure that they sent the citizens of Norfolk to quell the uprising they stated that "NCC's appraisal policy requires an independent appraisal of land conducted by a qualified land appraiser to establish fair market value."

Let me show you their 'fair market value".  Here's 31 properties that exchanged hands through different trust's before NCC put them in their name.

 

Acres	1st Laywer	2nd Lawyer	NCC Paid	Assessed Value	Overpaid $	Overpaid %
				2013
88	$250,000		$2	$190,475	$59,525	31%
123	$400,000	$2	$2	$300,950	$99,050	33%
3	$168,000		$2	$240,000	-$72,000	-30%
234	$819,000		$2	$229,800	$589,200	256%
213	$439,000		$2	$302,500	$136,500	45%
97	$259,000		$2	$361,500	-$102,500	-28%
136	$125,000	$0	$2	$152,950	-$27,950	-18%
81	$350,000		$2	$220,725	$129,275	59%
50	$210,000		$2	$67,000	$143,000	213%
26	$335,000		$2	$272,750	$62,250	23%
183	$715,300		$2	$445,000	$270,300	61%
51	$207,000		$2	$90,250	$116,750	129%
105	$571,000		$2	$53,750	$517,250	962%
47	$222,000		$2	$241,250	-$19,250	-8%
164	$830,000		$2	$518,350	$311,650	60%
63	$350,000		$2	$105,275	$244,725	232%
50	$350,000	$2	$2	$149,500	$200,500	134%
9	$287,000	$2	$2	$61,000	$226,000	370%
208	$775,000	$2	$2	$498,500	$276,500	55%
51	$710,000	$2	$2		$710,000
13	$280,000	$2	$2	$121,000	$159,000	131%
98	$430,000	$2	$2	$414,500	$15,500	4%
101	$367,000	$2	$2	$343,500	$23,500	7%
0	$280,000	$2	$2		$280,000
73	$280,000	$2	$2		$280,000
98	$625,000	$2	$2	$379,500	$245,500	65%
144	$735,000	$2	$2	$255,975	$479,025	187%
8	$209,700	$2	$2	$56,250	$153,450	273%
4	$120,000	$2	$2	$62,000	$58,000	94%
142	$735,000		$2	$255,975	$479,025	187%
87	$430,000		$2	$175,725	$254,275	145%
2,755	$12,864,000		$62	$6,565,950	$6,298,050	196%

So this is fair market value?  An average of double the assessed value?

The Nature Conservancy of Canada purchased 2,755 acres for $62?  Or was it $12,864,000?

Who knows but what we do know is the assessed value of these properties is $6,565,950.

Some properties don't have an assessed value for some unknown reason.  This is only 30 of the 59 properties that are now registered to The Nature Conservancy of Canada in Norfolk County.

What should you do if a Lawyer or their favorite Real Estate agent of the day which is, Helen Suderman comes calling about a Corporation interested in purchasing your property?

You must do what is best financially for your family.  All loyalties aside I won't sugar coat how we'd like to keep our neighbours and families in our area.

My suggestion would be drive a hard bargain and ask for triple what you think it's worth.  Worst case scenario , take double and pack up the family and get out of Norfolk as fast as you can.  Someone will have to make up for the lost tax base and as the supply of farms dwindle the remaining farm values will rise exponentially.  Thus increasing taxes on the inflated value making it harder for property taxes to get paid.  Eventually NCC buys all of rural Norfolk and we have a very large forest with no homes left.

When the economy eventually turns around, NCC will become one of the largest Carbon Credit suppliers in the world making trillions of dollars and will continue to buy rural properties all over Canada.

Those donations just don't seem to have the luster they once had now do they?  Aren't you glad that the Federal Government sponsors this Private Corporation so they can preserve nature and make trillions of dollars from doing it?

Maybe the Minister of Natural Resources can help stop the onslaught.  He can be reached at

Hon David Orazietti

dorazietti.mpp@liberal.ola.org