THE BULLETIN
BEND, DESCHUTES COUNTY, OREGON
SEPTEMBER 5, 1997
By Greg Bolt
The Bulletin and The Associated Press
National forest cabin sites, one of the biggest bargains in real estate, are about to get a lot more expensive.
The US Forest Service is preparing to reappraise the scenic properties for the first time in 20 years. As a result, people who lease the ground under forest getaways along the Metolius River or Elk Lake (in central Oregon) will have to pay sharply higher lease fees to hang onto the properties. Some could even be priced out of cabins that have been in their families for decades.
Half-acre lots on the Metolius now have appraised values as low as $16,000. Current market values probably are well above $100,000, which would boost a $1300-per-year lease fee to more than $20,000.
Larry R. Green, a Bend real estate appraiser, said a choice lot on the Metolius could be worth as much as $200,000. A quarter interest in an older cabin on one of the leased lots recently sold for $49,500, he noted.
"Prices have increased dramatically in the last 10 years," Green said. "Things on the Metolius are going to be even higher."
The Deschutes National Forest has 284 parcels under lease, most on the Metolius and on Elk, Paulina, Odell and Crescent lakes. The Deschutes parcels average about a half-acre and usually have a single private home or cabin.
In a 1996 report, the General Accounting Office chastised the Forest Service for letting appraised values fall far behind market values. Appraising on a 20-year cycle has allowed leaseholders to escape the steep rise in the value of recreational property over the past two decades.
"Land values have been escalating far greater than was ever expected," Forest Service spokesman Chris Holmes said Thursday.
Lease fees are based on the value of the land only, and are set at 5 percent of the appraised value with annual increases based on the Consumer Price Index. The government still owns the land, but leaseholders must pay property taxes on the cabins.
Cabins cannot be rented out and cannot be occupied year-round or used as a primary residence.
Forests in the Northwest are just beginning the appraisal process. Appraisals will he based on market value, determined by comparison with sales of like property.
One cabin owner bracing for a fee increase is Bob Ervin of Gladstone, who has a two-bedroom cabin on the Metolius. Last appraised in the 1970s for $16,000, his lease fee currently stands at a modest $1200 a year.
However, as executive director of National Forest Homeowners, an organization of permit holders, Ervin supports the reappraisal. "We agree with the fact that those of us who have permits to use the federal lands should in fact pay a fair and equitable permit fee to the Forest Service," he said.