My house will be aquired by the State for an Interstate Project. How generous are these programs?

I'm interested in personal experience. My impression from talking to the project manager and reading the website is that the payment for new housing and moving expenses is pretty generous.

My house was a starter home, but I'd like a little bigger one and I wonder how flexible they might be as to my preferences.

Here's the project, if interested;

http://www.iowadot.gov/cbinterstate/index.asp

Sometimes if you hold out you can get a little more, just don't take it too far.

This comes from knowledge gained as a guy working for a DOT contractor in Florida. Your mileage may vary considerably.

A consultation with an attorney familiar with the way things work where you are might be a good idea.

I'm kind of excited about it and wish they'd hurry up!

There is still a house by the highway with 'ODOT SUCKS' written in spray paint on it. I hope you get treated better.

I am a big proponent of eminent domain as a catalyst for growth for the state.

I support taking private property with compensation and with a needed project being used on that property.

The state has a vested interest in aquiring your land as cheaply as possible, and state appraisers nearly always come in with the lowest price they can get away with. The process generally goes something like this: The state hands you a valuation that makes you choke on your coffee, so you call a lawyer. Lawyer hires an appraiser who comes back with something more reasonable, towards the upper range of your homes worth. Your lawyers and theirs sit down in a room together and negotiate to a happy medium. If a mutually agreeable price can't be negotiated, the whole thing will be taken before a judge who will listen to the arguments from both sides and set a price based on his view of the situation. Typically, this ends up being somewhere in the middle.

What you have to remember is that YOUR opinion of an "equivalent home" and THEIR opinion of an "equivalent home" may be nothing alike.

There isn't much you can do at the moment, so spend your time doing a little research to find a good lawyer with experience dealing with these things. When the state sends your appraisal and offer, you can make the decision at that point as to whether you want to take the offer or fight them for more (they'll never give up more willingly, because the law generally forbids them from doing so). Whatever you do, DO NOT accept any offer from them until AFTER you have located another home that you're happy with, that can be purchased with the offer they're making.

One of the two people I knew was a friend of my dad's who bought a home in Central California in the late 1980's. In the early 1990's, during the previous big housing crash, the state decided that they wanted to build part of a new interchange across his land. He didn't really have a problem with any of it until he got his appraisal.

It was a long time ago so the numbers are fuzzy, but if I remember correctly he paid about $90,000 for the land and property, covered by a purchase mortgage. Because of the downturn, the state valued his home at $75,000, which actually WAS the fair market value at the time. Conveniently, that was also about the same amount that he owed the bank. So the state was going to take his land and compensate him with just enough money to pay off the mortgage, so he'd walk away with NOTHING (actually, by the time all was said and done, I think he said he'd have still owed the bank about a grand). The state refused to budge, stating that they can only pay based on the current valuation of the home. They offered several apologies, but no more money.

He fought them for over a year until they finally caved and offered to compensate him at his original purchase price. They dragged it out and only settled the DAY BEFORE it was supposed to go to court! He ended up pocketing about $15k on the deal, which he used as the down payment on his new replacement home. As it turned out, the new home was a bit of an upgrade for him as the depressed market gave him more buying power.

The state may have no interest in screwing you at all, and may be more than willing to make you what they consider to be a good offer. If you agree, great! The "worst case scenario" may not happen, but it doesn't hurt to know your options and have some preparations for it in place ahead of time. The last thing you want to do is find yourself scrambling for a lawyer AFTER you receive their offer, when the clock starts ticking.

You know, you may want to have your home appraised right now, even before their offer comes in. Professional appraisals generally run a few hundred dollars, but having one will quickly let you judge the fairness of the states offer when it arrives.