ANT BITE -- The BMC HypoAppraisal
March 20 The long awaited BMC "appraisal"—sort of---has been released by the City. Initially, upon reading the newspapers last week,Aspenites were comforted by the assurance that the value was only $1.45 million less than the $16.8 million paid in December, 2007. But upon further examination of the appraisal, and discussions with real estate professionals, the City is once again being challenged with the outrageous spin they put on the so called, “appraisal.” (Reminds us of the bogus press releases issued after the Burlingame audits.)
Turns out the “appraisal” was a very nonstandard valuation based on “Extraordinary Assumptions” and “Hypothetical conditions”---not what a reasonable buyer would pay!! And one any bank would laugh you out of the room for presenting.
John McBride, one of the most respected developers and businessmen in the valley, who knows this property like the back of his hand, called the public’s attention to the bogus appraisal in a guest column this week. (His columnis both linked and printed in full below.) And from there, the rocks are being uncovered.
We are not ready to write the Ant article on the issue yet, but given the attention it is getting and the blog entries we have received, we want to make as much information publicly available as possible.
Here’s a link to the Aspen Times article:
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20090313/NEWS/903139970&parentprofile=search
And the City’s Press Release:
http://www.aspenpitkin.com/apps/news/news_item_detail.cfm?NewsItemID=1042
John McBride’s Column “Fantasy Economics” : (also reprinted in the comments below)
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/columnist/133284
Mick Ireland’s Rebuttal to McBride:
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/letter-editor/133319
A copy of the “appraisal”: (large file takes VERY LONG TIME to open):
http://www.aspenvotes.org/storage/HypoAppraisal.pdf
Fair Warning At the Time of Purchase:
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20071129/NEWS/71128041&parentprofile=search
City Documents at Time of Council approval. (Explanation of $450,000+ per unit subisdy!)
http://www.aspenpitkin.com/pdfs/depts/38/cc.res.097-07.pdf
See the comments below posted initially under issue #28 of The Red Ant “Land Banking Needs a Bailout.” We stand by our conclusions!
Stay tuned.We know that there is much more to learn. The Ant has been asking for a copy of the appaisal every few weeks since late summer, and the City always had some excuse as to why it was not complete. But the long awaitedreport was even more creative than we could have imagined!
Feel free to leave a comment below.
Reader Comments (15)
I have been a substantial commercial and residential real estate investor and developer in several states for over 35 years. I have hired, read, and analyzed numerous serious MAI appraisals through the years.
After reading both sides of this issue, it is unbelievable and indefensible that the City could possibly have paid that much more than that property was worth. And there is no doubt whatsoever that the BMC property was worth a fraction of what was paid. I don't understand why the citizens are not talking impeachment here. If this were the US or Colorado government, there would already be a congressional investigation of this mayor and City manager going on with the facts available.
Something is terribly wrong here. I would suggest that someone needs to follow the money here. Was this purchase just blatant stupidity or is there real malfeasance going on here? It's either one or the other. Or at the price paid for that land, possibly both.