Northern California Real Estate    DRE # 00254845
Northwest Sonoma County and Southern Mendocino County
Recreational And Estate Properties
We have been doing this since 1976

SOLD

Across from the old Post Office location in Annapolis, CA 95412
Lot #1 $199,847 - 35.5 Acres - AP#122-090-014 - Old AP#122-090-012
36540 Annapolis Rd, Annapolis, CA 95412 - MLS #20932344
Lot #2 $199,734 - 33.4 Acres - AP#122-090-015 - Old AP#122-090-011
36226 Annapolis Rd, Annapolis, CA 95412 - MLS #20932347

ANNAPOLIS

Is 1.33 hours from Healdsburg or 10 minutes from the Pacific Ocean at the Sea Ranch or 25 minutes from Gualala. It is a very quiet, remote town with a grammar school and a post office. Shopping is in Gualala. It is not fog bound, but you will not need air conditioning. Vineyard planting seems to be taking over from timber as the primary industry.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Both properties are heavily forested and represent good timber value. Both are park like with redwood and fir being the predominant trees. Both have gentle building sites off Annapolis Road which is paved. The driveway is just west of the Annapolis Post Office on the North side of the road. Little Creek wanders with a narrow road through both properties in the valley and crosses the creek 5 times on little bridges. It is beautiful there. Lot one has good access to the creek via 1.2 miles of good gravel road which is called Little Creek Rd. It starts about 300 yards west of the driveway easement to the property off Annapolis Rd. Lot 2 has access via skid roads and trails to Little Creek.

TIMBER VALUE

It is in one of the best redwood growing regions in California. There is about 450,000 standing board feet of timber on each property. About 80% is redwood which is now selling for about $635 per 1,000 board ft. I have seen it as high as $1,500 per 1,000 board ft., $900 per 1,000 board ft. is a rough average. THE MAJOR FACTOR IN THE SELLER BUYING THE PROPERTY WAS THE TIMBER VALUE. It appears that about 250,000 board feet could be harvested in 2024. The Trust received 2% of the gross dollars. A wild guess is it would yield about $80,000 net based on todays prices. Douglas Fir is now selling for about $400 per thousand board ft. and it is not logical to harvest now.

NTMP

Creates a long term timber harvest plan and you do not need to do repeated Timber Harvest Plans that run from $25,000 up. The NTMP is to promote sustainable growth/harvesting. This is an excellent program and well worth having.

LOT #1

Is about 100 yards from pavement and electricity. The second location where you might build on this property is down by the creek near the burned cabin. It would have to be approved by SLT. This cabin which was built about 1974, was lived in for 5 years and burned in 2004. To get there, you go down Little Creek Road, immediately before the bridge turn right. The sign is about on the property line. In about 60 yards, there is a chain across the road. It is about 300 yards further to the bridge across the creek you have been paralleling. I have driven an 8,000 lb. truck carefully across it. This is down in a canyon with lots of trees. There is a small meadow that be might expanded if you keep in mind what you can cut with out SLT approval.. Sun exposure is better than I expected.

LOT #2 and LOT #1

Both have access at B on the map from the paved road. The neighbor that owns the 10 acres that we are going through and the cabin are nice people. They own the gorgeous meadow across the street. The green house just to the left/West bought a few acres from lot 1 and these 2 lots were re configured to give them both a better building site on top. There is an easement to a perk area to the left of the Green house. It can not be used to build there. Lot 1 could build on the top ridge or possibly below by the creek.

LOT #2

Will build on the ridge. This area, as is 93% of both properties is heavily treed. The undergrowth has been cleared on about 2 acres. To create a view, it will be necessary to cut trees that are allowed in the conservation easement. There are many large trees in the area that could be spared if the new Buyer wishes to. You can see redwood stumps from past logging that are in the 5 to 7 ft. range. The notches in the trees are from the spring boards the timber fallers used to stand on or to make scaffolding around the trees. Electricity is close.

ROADS TO THE AREA

Are all windy, slow and scenic. Depending on the day and your destination, you might even go south along the coast. Petaluma is about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

USEAGE Lot #1

The canyon where I would try to build has good sun during the summer. Probably minimal in the winter. It can be improved. If you wanted to camp out along the creek and possibly build in the future Lot 1 would be your best choice. Lot # 1 & 2 both have good ridge top potential building sites. Lot 2 usable area on top is larger.

WATER

The wells were drilled before the lot line changes were made and in effect swapped the wells from their previous lots . Thus the information you will find in the county will probably show the old addresses.

Lot #1 has a well on the top of the ridge which was drilled in July of 2002. It is behind Alberto’s trailer. It was producing about 6 gpm. The new requirements will probably require a 12 hour test. It also has a spring above the burned cabin by the Little Creek. It needs work. It was producing about 187 gallons a day in early September, 2001. With storage, it would be fine for a cabin or camp. There is another spring that was never developed across the bridge along the side of Little Creek Road that looked like it could be developed and would produce about the same. Little Creek flows through both properties and gets down to a piddle in late summer. It looks like it has a high iron content, which probably could be filtered out. Lot #2 has a poor well. It is on your left as you come in the driveway. To build under Class K, you only need 1/4 gpm. My recommendation is that both properties share both wells.

PERCOLATION

They are both standard and are on the ridge on both properties. Lot 1 is 5 bedroom and 2 is 6. When they reconfigured the lots they split the perk area on 2. If they are sold separately this will need an easement.

EASEMENTS

On the map, A represents a 50 ft. easement to Lot #1 percolation area. There is also an easement on Little Creek Road to the bridge to access the lower portion of lot 1. There is not an easement through 1 to lot 2. There is a road association which will want an annual fee if this is used. My guess would be $400 per year. B is an easement for both lots to the building envelope.

EARTHQUAKE

The San Andreas Fault runs along the top of the first ridge from the ocean about 2 miles to the west. It is not a concern.

WEATHER

Is nice. Not hot. You are near the fog line, but not in it. At 700 ft., the upper sites will be above most of it. Winter actually has less fog than the summer. Rainfall will run about 65 inches per year, but it is not like Seattle. This is a banana belt that was first recognized by the Russians who settled Fort Ross before the Gold Rush. There is some wonderful correspondence from them and how they missed this area when they went back to Russia. The weather is what is bringing in the vineyards for Pinot. It also grows ferns as tall as 6 ft. on this property.

THE SELLER

Raul is a very interesting guy with a good business mind and an organic/green thought process. His primary motive in buying the property was an investment and the timber value to his business. He sells redwood furniture. Expanding and surviving 2008/9 takes cash and he needs to put his equity from here into the business. Raul would be a ready buyer for the redwood and could take care of everything needed to be done regarding harvesting the timber. His partner Terry controls the LLC that holds title to these properties.

VALUE

Is in the eye of the beholder. There is lots of information on this on my website. NTMP is good for 20 years. The likelihood of the timber going up considerably is very strong, due to the limitations that have come into effect recently. The result of these new regulations is the amount of timber that can be harvested in the future will be less. The law of supply and demand may not push redwood to $1,600 per 1,000 board ft. again, but $900 would not surprise me.

The timber volume is growing at about 5% per year. We think the prices are realistic.

BUILDING SITES

Lot 1 might build by the creek and pump up to the septic field on its S/W corner or on the ridge in it’s S/E corner. You need permission form SLT which may not be easy and CDF approval for the driveway from Little Creek Road. The easy location is on top.

Lot 2 would logically build on the ridge on top. There is enough room for each lot to build in this area and be barely out of sight of each other.

CONSERVATION EASEMENT

Sonoma Land Trust holds a Conservation Easement on the properties. The easement was designed to protect natural resources while permitting limited timber harvest over time. The next harvest would be in 2024. It provides goals and restrictions for the management of the forest and establishes a 5-acre building envelope to surround the Building site for both parcels. The structures here are limited to 9,000 sq. ft for each lot. Sonoma Land Trust visits the property once a year and coordinates with the landowners on activities related to the Conservation Easement, such as timber harvesting or road construction. It reduces your real estate taxes. It is a +20 page document that goes hand in hand with a NTMP Timber Harvest Plan which is approved. The NTMP is a benefit to the property owner and has cost the Seller about $50,000. An over simplification is you can harvest 10% of the standing/harvestable timber per 10 years without filing another Timber Harvest Plan. You will need to do a cruise each time which is relatively easy. You must get permission from SLT to build structures outside the 5-acre building envelope. This may not be easy. This property was intended to supply housing for employees and redwood for the Sellers business. Tight cash flow dictates selling it. They do not limit cutting firewood for personal use, hardwood trees under 24 inches and fir or redwood under 10 inches. My dealings with SLT have not been wonderful. They are very autocratic and slow. SLT can be reached at 966 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95404, (707) 526-6930. Georgiana Hale has been the contact person.

REAL ESTATE TAXES

Pinning down the Conservation Easement benefit is not simple but it appears your tax bill other than for structures you build will be less than $200 per year per parcel. That is a probable savings of about $2,300 per year for each parcel.

ALBERTO

And his wife Genevieve are living on the property in the Building Envelope in their trailer. She makes great tamales. He has worked for Raul falling timber for years. He has done an excellent job of reorganizing the timber stands and making much of the land park like. He is also interested in working on other peoples property. He has quite a bit of good heavy equipment. 707 637 7785. His son Edger and his family are also living on parcel # 2. He is a very good mechanic. 707 637 6749

PROBLEMS

High School is in Point Arena and is almost one hour away. If you are a person who goes to the grocery store everyday, this is not a fit. Gualala is 25 minutes and has quite a bit to offer. There are 2 good grocery stores, a bakery, drug store, auto parts, hardware, 2 gas stations and so forth. There are several good restaurants. Medical care in in Gualala . A hospital is 1.33 hours away in Healdsburg. Serious shopping is 1.66 hours away in Santa Rosa.

The water sources probably have to be recertified between July 15th and October 31th with a 12 hour test. I would recommend sharing both wells. You will need a water purification system to eliminate the poor taste of the water. The septic systems will have to be designed and this takes from 4 months. The cost is highly variable depending on what you require but will be a minimum of $5,000 each. The county offices will use both the old and the new addresses until they get their act together. There is not an easement through lot 1 to lot 2 along Little Creek.

DIRECTIONS FROM THE COAST

Near the Sea Ranch Restaurant, turn uphill on the Annapolis Road. In 10 minutes you will see the old Post Office on your right. You just passed it on your left. There is a real estate sign at the driveway.

FROM 101

Take the Dry Creek exit at the north end of Healdsburg. Go under the freeway west on Dry Creek. In 11 miles, turn left on the Skaggs Springs Stewarts Point Road towards Highway 1. In one hour turn right over the bridge onto Annapolis Road. In 10 minutes past Horicon School, you will see the Post Office on your left. The property is 100 yards further on the right. To go to Lot #1 northwest corner, do the following: In 1/10th of a mile, turn right onto Little Creek Road. One mile down Little Creek you will come to the flat car bridge. The property is on your right.

The statements and figures herein are from many sources which we believe are accurate but we do not know for sure. We try hard but we are not perfect.

Joe White - P.O. Box 728 - Healdsburg, CA 95448
Tel: (707) 431-2151 - Fax: (888) 688-4021

Copyright © 2015 Joe White Real Estate Broker All Rights Reserved.

Site designed and maintained by Ed Striepeke