Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Purchasing a useless parcel from the city
Hi - I am going to try and obtain a small parcel of land next to my building that is owned by the city of Anaheim. A few years ago, they had cleared two buildings next to mine and utilized the space for freeway expansion. What was left over is a small lot (20 x 70') that is usefull to no one but myself. It was originally fenced in, but some residents of the area tore it down and now use it for parking and working on their cars. In otherwords it is a total eyesore. I have asked the city to either give me the land or re-fence it up but have had no luck. They feel the parcel has worth of $10k. In otherwords, they want me to buy the land, fence it, pave it, and put up garages. This would be reasonable if they wanted to give me the land or sell it for a dollar. It would remove an eysore and improve neighborhood parking. My question is what would be the wisest way to work with the city on this ? Do you think it would be better to go over the heads of the people I'm dealing with and take it to a city council, or would this create more problems ? Or should I ask an attorney contact them for the negotiations ?
Thank you for any advice.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Purchasing a useless parcel from the city
My guess is that the city would have some kind of charter restriction on disposing of property for less than market value. It has a duty to its residents and taxpayers to protect the public interest in that regard. Therefore, someone has apparently come up with an informal determination that this parcel is worth $10,000 -- maybe by figuring so many dollars per square foot. This is about $7.50 a foot, probably low for downtown Anaheim but maybe high for this particular lot. You could pay for an appraisal, but someone who would be acceptable to the city would be pretty expensive in relation to the deal size. I can assure you that SOMEONE would be willing to pay a lot more than $1 for the property without even seeing it, so the city properly rejected that offer.
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