What is the value of a clean and beautiful, 440-acre, four-season lake nestled in the Litchfield Hills within a three-hour drive radius of 30 million people and a $2 trillion GDP? (Think Italy.) We all have our feelings for the lake and what it is worth to each of us. But what price would it take for us to part with our beloved little parcels? For this exercise, let’s go out on a limb and assume the 2007 revaluation established a reasonably accurate estimate of value at least at that time – October 2007. Then we’ll take a look at what’s happened to selling prices since then.
There are 433 parcels listed as Highland Lake “waterfront” on the Town’s property records - 358 have buildings on them. Based on the revaluation results, the appraised value of the 97 waterfront acres and the several hundred buildings on those acres is $150 million, about $1.5 million per acre. The appraised value is simply the assessed value with the 30% added back (assessed value = 70% of appraised value).
Another 79 parcels are listed as “water access,” meaning they have access to water on the other side of the road. The appraised value of the 33 acres with water access is $27 million, averaging just over $800,000 per acre. The remaining 427 acres covered by the Highland Lake District (HLD) have an appraised value of $76 million ($180,000 an acre), bringing the total value of the HLD to $253 million.
What else can you buy for $250 million? How about the New York Yankees for a year? Or Bear Stearns on March 17, 2008 – that’s what JP Morgan paid for the iconic financial firm on that date. Or what Thomas Jefferson paid Napoleon in 1803 (in today’s dollars) for Louisiana and a few other states. That puts some meaning behind the oft-used phrase – “Winsted’s most precious resource.” Comparisons to other Winsted/Winchester real estate values are also interesting:
Email any comments to me at mhpeacock@charter.net.