The following came in response to the recent post, “Airpark insurance… is it required?” from Wolf Aviation Fund Executive Director Rol Morrow.

Among other things I am on the board of the Recreational Aviation Foundation, which works to preserve recreational airstrips and promote backcountry flying.

RAF has been working for the last several years to encourage local state volunteers and pilot associations to revise each state’s recreational use statute to include operation of aircraft.

The idea is to encourage owners of private use strips and managers of strips on public lands not to worry about liability and to open, or leave open, their strips for recreational users.

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We recently received a question involving airpark homeowners association (HOA) insurance. The founder of the airpark no longer has an ownership interest and the lot owners were in the process of establishing an HOA. Specifically, the lot owner was hoping the HOA could bypass buying insurance, citing among other sources a Recreational Use Statute (see below), to save the quoted $1,500 annual premium. Further, he stated, “I’ve been told that insurance for an airpark is not required. Is this correct?”

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We received from the following note from Zeigh Ownesby regarding lenders:

I am a registered user of your web site, but need a little more information. Do you have a packet and/or links to information for bank officials who are familiar with fly-in communities? The bank that I used before on a previous airpark had to be coached extensively on what this concept was. Otherwise, they kept viewing a runway close by as a primary negative detail instead of the biggest positive amenity of the area. Now I am having to do this all over again for a land loan elsewhere. Any information to help would be appreciated.

I directed Zeigh to the Resources section of the website. However, we have just three contacts listed. I’d appreciate any additional contacts we can share with others. Comment below, or email me at ben@generalaviationnews.com.

Recently a reader asked about posting figures for airpark taxes, real estate taxes and much, much more. Although it is extremely difficult to accumulate this type of information for all the various airparks around the country, I ran across one item in the Wall Street Journal recently that might be helpful in figuring out the possible taxes a property has levied against it..

The article noted that taxes on a piece of real estate – home, airpark, etc., nationwide averaged around 1% of the property’s assessed value.

That got me to thinking and I checked my own home tax assessment and talked to several other people both locally and in distant places and discovered this was a good rule of thumb. It is always important to check out the tax load on the place you are considering purchasing, but you can probably use this bit of data for early figuring.

Of course, I will look forward to hearing from those who deal with this type of material all the time telling us whether r not this is a valid rule of thumb.

An email from Wayne Ristine wants to know: “Are there any lenders that understand lending or specialize in lending to purchase an airpark property.”

My response: I don’t know of any lender specializing in airpark properties, but there are firms that can help you. If you’ll share the general area you are looking at perhaps I can help you find a lender. Additionally, by pointing out the region you are looking at some lenders in that area as well as other airpark residents are very likely to come forward with additional information for you. If anyone has suggestions, please post them in the comments section below.

Following is an email we received from Thom Barlow of Tampa, Florida:

Charlie Masters from Sandy’s Farm Airpark sandysairpark@sportys.com said to contact you.

I live on a modest little airport community 18 mi. north of Tampa FL. called Tampa North Aeropark (X 39). Before this Sub-Prime Mortgage Fiasco hit the fan the market value of my 4 bedroom 3 full-bath country-style hangar home was approximately $440,000. Now I can’t get an appraisal up over $250,000.00. It seems “they” do everything they can to purposely de-value my place. My loan officer told me Bank of America is holding so many foreclosure properties they have de-valued everything in the market so they can unload their inventory.

My biggest hurdle is the COMPS. The Appraisers don’t know how to appraise “Airport Community Homes”, They just don’t see the VALUE of living with your plane on a runway. They want to compare my place with a run-of-the-mill home in the area. More than likely sold real cheap & fast so the seller could get out from under a sub-prime mortgage and/or they lost their employment during this fiasco the Banks caused to the world economy.

My question to you is . . . Do you have knowledge of this happening elsewhere ? If so . . . What is being done to address it ?

Could you direct my path to Real Estate Appraisers that know what they’re doing ? I don’t care if they’re in other states. They might know useful stratigies and have connections that could help me here. This might be an area for your “Living with your Plane” to address at this time.

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My Parents have lived for over 20 years in Florida at the Spruce Creek residential airpark. They tell me that the Hangar, as it is not a living space, is not considered in the valuation for a home mortgage. My guess is the tax man has no problem recognizing it as a revenueable event / thing. I would have guessed in a situation like that, with runway access, it would have a positive effect on the valuation of the property.

Is this a Florida thing or is this another obstacle to living next to your airplane?

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We are a well established fly in community in the Atlanta area. We have corporate bylaws, and a new set of covenants to comply with Georgia code 44-3-220. None of this is a problem.

What we need some help on is a thru the fence agreement between one of the property owners and the HOA. One of our owners owns several acres adjoining community/HOA owned property and they keep horses there. At the present, they simply access their property “thru the fence” from their property, then across HOA property, then onto their adjoining land. We’ve not had any problems, and really don’t expect to, but I suggested a Thru the Fence agreement should be drawn up to establish the rules, guidelines, restrictions, etc for this resident to access his adjoining property (which is NOT part of the subdivision at all). He is quite agreeable to this and would like to draw up something.

Does anyone have any Through the Fence agreements they might be willing to share, to help us create something?

Thanks,

Chuck Hanna
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We received the following from Ron Lock:

I am building an airpark in Mississippi, about 12 miles N/W on McComb (KMCB) in Auburn MS. It is 3,000 ft and includes a 300 ft. overrun (grass). Runway 6/24 will be called Lockhaven Airpark LLC. This is the runway area, and there is a 3 1/2 acre section for hangers that will be called Lockhaven Properties LLC. For future development I am putting in a 10-acre lake and will still have about 40 acres for future home sites.

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We received the following from Charles Wood or Paradise Air Haven Airpark in Washington, Oklahoma:

Just wanted to let you know that LWYP saved our Homeowners Association almost $1,000 in insurance premiums this year. The past several years we had been paying Air Capital Insurance of Wichita, Kansas, $2900 for a $500,000 liability policy.

After you conducted your insurance survey, and several underwriters contacted you, I contacted Mike Schiller at Wenk Aviation Insurance Agency, Inc., Highland Park, Illinois. Wenk provided a $1,000,000 liability policy for $1,922. Thank you.

Charles Wood
Paradise Air Haven Airpark (39OK)
Washington, OK