www.SellingOurLand.com
Property co-owner: Joseph Elfelt 425-881-8017 (call
after 10 a.m.
Michigan time)
290 acres -
Available as four parcels - No buildings
Priced for a buyer's market
25+ acres
North 40 acres
South 40 acres
184+ acres
Info
current as of 5-2-2009
Virtual
Tour
- See below for link
Special note: We
have not logged our land! There has been some recent logging in
the area but that is on different land that we do not own.
General location:
Southern part of Kalkaska County. About 11 miles east of
the village of Fife Lake, 12 miles south of Kalkaska. Frontage on
both Shively Rd and also on Crouch Rd. Just north of the Manistee
River.
Ownership:
Myself, my wife, and my brother Steve own clear title to this property.
Description:
The one-word
description for this property is "variety".
The land is both
forested and open meadow. It is both level and rolling. The
top of a ridge provides an inspiring view out over the
valley of the Manistee River ("Sharon valley" to the locals) and the
Pere Marquette State Forest. Another area
is thick cover with limited sight-distance. There are gorgeous
big sugar maple trees ready to tap, pines over 30 ft tall
in
some of the old fields, spruce, thick aspen regrowth
and wildlife shrub plantings. There is a tremendous amount of
'edge'
where forest and meadow meet with nooks and crannies galore.
While most of the land is well drained, there is a water seep
where it would
likely be possible to dig a wildlife
waterhole. There are also a
few acres of bottom land, cedar trees and a small spring
where our land slopes down to the bottom of the river valley.
There is about 150 feet of elevation difference between the high
point and the low point. About half of the property is listed
under the Commercial Forest Act
which greatly reduces the property taxes.
After a short walk over adjoining
state land you get to the Manistee
River. While the river is used by kayakers and canoeists,
there is no easy overland public access to this state property so it
likely does not receive much use from the general public.
Virtual
tour:
We have listed this property
for sale (MLS #1695165)
with realtor Brad Nichols of
Remerica in Traverse City (Office 231-941-8283,
Toll free 800-941-8283,
Cell 231-883-2255). Brad photographed and produced an outstanding
virtual tour. Even if you are not interested in the property,
the virtual tour is worth a quick look just so you can see what a good
one looks like. Near the end of the
virtual tour some of the shots are videos that
pan back and forth.
If you
contact Brad please tell him how you found out about the property
Hunting:
Our realtor, Brad, is also a
hunter (bow, muzzle-loader, rifle)
and he was so impressed with the quality of our land for hunting that
he asked permission to hunt and volunteered to post the property.
On one of his first visits he photographed an 8-point buck which you
can see in his virtual tour. He has seen at least one other buck
on the property and neighbors have commented to him on the excellent
hunting in the immediate area. Since I am not a hunter
myself, Brad knows a whole bunch more than I do about the 'huntability'
of our land. If hunting or simply observing wildlife is one of
your main interests, then I encourage you to give Brad a call (Cell
231-883-2255) and hear firsthand how our property compares to other
large parcels on the market.
Price (see below for map):
25+ acres
$60,000
This parcel lies south of Shively Road and
has been surveyed. To the north of this parcel and across Shively
Road is our "South 40". Most of this parcel is level to gently
rolling upland and well-drained. About 3 acres in the southeast
corner is wooded bottomland along the Manistee River. In between
the upland and bottom land is the side of the Manistee River valley
where there is at least one small spring. Above the valley side a
stand of large pine were cut a number of years ago and the pine cones
that
fell to the ground over the years have seeded that area which is
growing back as a natural pine forest. If I was going to build
myself, I would pick a spot in these young natural pine at the top of
the valley hillside where I could look out onto the bottomland and
admire the wildlife that will be attracted to that habitat edge.
Some of the upland area is open meadow.
The adjoining
property to the south is state land. This state land is
likely not hunted much by the general public since there is not good
public access to it. This state land is all wooded and a mixture
of areas that are very wet and other areas that are dry. Although
there is not an established trail, it is less than 1/4 mile to the
Manistee River and an easy walk over dry ground. The last time I
was there we saw a spring with water literally gushing from a hole
large enough to put your arm into. Since
the other parcels we are offering for sale do not adjoin state land, we
are going to establish a limited easement over the west 20 feet of
this parcel so whoever buys our other parcels can also have access to
this
state land. This easement will be limited to non-motorized use
except if motorized use is needed to retrieve game that has been killed.
North 40
acres $88,000
This parcel is east of Shively road and
includes a ridgetop where you can enjoy distant views. Part of
this parcel is open meadow with scattered small trees and
shrubs. Another part of this parcel is a hardwood forest where
the prior owner did substantial logging. Not all the big trees
were cut and the areas that were logged are rapidly growing back.
Some of these logged areas now offer thick cover for game. Near
the northwest corner of this parcel there is a 2-track road that
leaves Shively Road and climbs thru
the meadows up and over the ridge and then drops down onto the eastern
part of this parcel. You can see
this 2-track road on the aerial photo shown
below. This eastern area is a
mixture of open
meadows, large trees and forest regrowth.
The owner of this parcel will have the
right to access the state land via the easement described above.
South 40
acres $88,000
This parcel includes more of the ridge
that runs across our North 40. I think the best view is to the
south where you can look out over the tree tops of the Manistee River
valley and literally see for miles. Shively Road runs along the
west and south sides of this parcel and is maintained by the county
year-round. There is a great variety of vegetation which includes
some large hardwoods, planted pine, open meadows, dense forest regrowth
and a large amount of planted shrubs favored by birds and other
wildlife. Our realtor has
observed excellent deer sign on this parcel. At about the
middle of the south line of this parcel there is a 2-track road that
enters our South 40 and crosses it heading north. The ridge on
this property lies between this 2-track and Shively road to the
west.
The owner of this parcel will
have the right to access the state land via the easement described
above.
184+
acres $406,000
This extra large tract has a nearly
endless amount of 'edge' where different habitat types meet.
Different areas are level, rolling and hilly. There is a large
amount of hardwood forest with plenty of big
sugar maple trees. Some of these
trees
have been tapped in the past for making maple syrup. These
hardwood areas offer excellent opportunity for income from timber
harvesting. I have had a number of calls from timber buyers
asking if we wanted to sell logs from this property but we have turned
them all down. There is also a large amount of planted pine and
some spruce with the biggest of these now over 30 feet high.
Other areas are open grassy meadow. Near the north side of this
tract there is
a small moist area where it would likely be easy to create a wildlife
waterhole. At the NW corner of this
parcel (intersection of Crouch and Gray Roads) a 2-track road enters
this land and wanders around. Along the way several spur tracks
go this way and that. This property has 1/2 mile of frontage on
Shively road (power and phone), 1/2 mile of frontage on unmaintained
Gray road and 1/4 mile of frontage on Crouch road (power and phone).
One unique feature of this tract is that
120 acres of it is designated as "commercial forest" (CFA) land and has
an
extremely low annual tax rate of only $1.20 per acre. As you
stand on
Shively road and look west, the first 660 feet (40 acres) is not in the
CFA program. The rest of this tract (144 acres) is in the CFA
program. The aerial
photo
(see below) shows the CFA and non-CFA areas of this tract.
The owner of this
tract will have the right to access the state land via the easement
described above.
All 290
acres $600,000
Shop around:
We know there are other large parcels on the market so we have priced
this property (as well as our other land) to be the best value on
the
market, all things considered. To help you shop around and
satisfy yourself that our land is the best buy out there, here is a
link to the realtor's multiple list service covering all of Grand Traverse,
Leelanau, Antrim, Kalkaska, and Benzie Counties. To search
this MLS:
1. Click the down-arrow next to "Residential" and select
"Vacant land".
2. Click the down-arrow next to "City" and select "County"
3. Click the down-arrow by the
empty box to the right of "County" and select "Kalkaska"
4. To the right of "Acres" enter a range in the two
boxes.
5. Click "Search Listings"
When you compare other large parcels for sale to our land, please
remember to consider these points:
- Is the property wet or mostly well drained?
- Does the property front on a public road which the
county maintains, including snowplowing in the winter?
- Is there power and phone available along the edge of
the property?
- Does the property provide good habitat for hunting?
- Does the property offer building sites with views for
miles?
- Is it next to state land?
- Will the property generate income from timber sales?
- Is part of the property sheltered from high taxes by
enrollment
in the Commercial Forest Act program?
I
have studied the other similar size acreage parcels available for sale
in Kalkaska County and am confident that we have priced our four
parcels to give you better quality property for less money than
anything else you can buy in the county. You don't have to
take my word for it. You can get on the MLS website and check it
out for yourself.
Photos:
(See also the virtual
tour our realtor made)
Aerial map showing property outline:
This aerial view is from 2005. The high-resolution image is
exceptionally
detailed but is a 4
MB file so it will take a little time to load. The planted
trees are growing very fast and much bigger in person than the
impression you get looking at the aerial.
Here is a
medium resolution version of this aerial photo
Here is a
high resolution version (4MB file)
Parcel map:
Here is a map that
shows our four parcels.
This map also shows:
- Topography. The contour lines are at a 3 meter
interval (just under 10 feet).
- GPS waypoints. The waypoint names are 01,
02,
03, etc.
If you have a GPS here are two ways that you can access these
waypoints.
Option 1: Waypoint file
ready to load onto memory card for Magellan brand GPS. Save
this file as WP290 without any file extension.
Option 2: List
of these same
waypoints if you need to manually enter them into your GPS.
Street Map:
Link
to a map from Yahoo Maps
If you have not used Yahoo Maps before, note that
the "+" and "-" buttons in the upper left corner
of the map window let you zoom in/out. The
Map-Hybrid-Satellite buttons in the upper right let you flip between
the street
view or aerial view or a combination.
Legal descriptions:
This land is all located in Garfield Township,
Kalkaska
County, Michigan
It is in Town 25 North, Range 7 West
Land in
section 10
Beginning at the south 1/4 corner of said section 10, thence easterly
on the section line 805.2 feet, thence northerly parallel to the
northsouth quarter section line 1320 feet, thence westerly parallel
with the south section line a distance of 805.2 feet, thence southerly
on the north-south quarter section line to the POB
24.4 acres We have a survey for this
part. This 24.4 acres
is in the Commercial Forest (CFA) program.
Land in
Section 14
W 1/2 of NW 1/4 80 acres
East 25 acres of NW 1/4 of SW 1/4 25.75
acres We have a survey for this
part.
Land in
section 15
NE 1/4 160 acres The west 3/4
(120 acres) is in the Commercial Forest (CFA) program.
Directions:
From Kalkaska,
get to the intersection of M-72 and M-66 just south of
town. Go south on M-66 for 9 miles. Turn left (east) onto
Sharon Rd and go 1.5 miles. Turn right (south) onto Crouch Rd
(maintained all year) and
go 1 mile. You are now at a "T" where Crouch
Rd ends and the cross street is Gray Rd. This is point "01" on
the parcel map (see above). From here there is a 2-track road
continuing south that enters our 184+ acre tract
and
takes you to some wonderful spots.
Also from the end of Crouch Rd you can drive east on Gray Rd and for
the first 800 feet we own on both sides of Gray Rd. However, this
section of Gray road is not maintained. If
you are in a 2-wheel drive or low clearance
vehicle it would be safest to drive back to Sharon Rd, turn right
(east) for 1/2 mile, turn right (south) onto Shively Rd and go 1
mile. You are now at the intersection of Shively Rd and Gray
Rd. This is point "09" on the parcel map
(see above). This road intersection is the
NW corner of our "North 40".
As you continue south on Shively road our "North 40" is on your left
and our 184+ acre tract is on your right. After a bit our "South 40"
will be on your left and out 184+ acre tract will still be on your
right.
Keep going and follow Shively road around a bend to the left. You
are now on the south line of our South 40. In about 0.2 miles
look for a metal "T" post on the right. This post marks the NW
corner of our 25+ acre parcel
and is point "04" on the parcel map. Continue driving on Shively
around a bend to the right. This is the NE corner of our 25+ acre
parcel and also the SE corner of our South 40. Soon you will come
to the end of the public road. The county maintains Shively road,
including snowplowing, up to this point.
Of course as you drive around you will also see the Remerica For
Sale signs placed by our realtor.
Contact information for Joseph Elfelt
Return to homepage for SellingOurLand
