What is Colina do Sol worth?

Potential foreign investors may be hearing proposals to "invest in Colina do Sol". The first question asked should be "What's it really worth?" Skip the next paragraph, and find the answer.

Visitas recentes ao Colina do Sol foram inundados com propostas de comprar algo - cabanas, títulos, concessões, etc. Há uma boa chance de que Celso Rossi está procurando um "investidor" para lhe salvar. Tal pessoa precisaria muito dinheiro no bolso, e pouco conhecimentimento na cabeça, tanto de imóveis no Brasil quanto do Colina do Sol e Celso. Que indica estrangeiro. Então um postagem no inglês.

What is Colina do Sol composed of?

Colina do Sol is a naturist resort in the south of Brazil, composed of somewhere between 42 and 60 hectares of land. The most recent surveyor said 42; the last map, from 2001 measures out to about 60. There is an unfinished hotel, a restaurant, and about 108 homes on the land.

There's a lien for somewhere between R$300,000 and R$691,284.58 on 25 hectares of the land, and that should go to auction sometime soon - t

Potential foreign investors may be hearing proposals to "invest in Colina do Sol". The first question asked should be "What's it really worth?" Skip the next paragraph, and find the answer.

Visitas recentes ao Colina do Sol foram inundados com propostas de comprar algo - cabanas, títulos, concessões, etc. Há uma boa chance de que Celso Rossi está procurando um "investidor" para lhe salvar. Tal pessoa precisaria muito dinheiro no bolso, e pouco conhecimentimento na cabeça, tanto de imóveis no Brasil quanto do Colina do Sol e Celso. Que indica estrangeiro. Então um postagem no inglês.

What is Colina do Sol composed of?

Colina do Sol is a naturist resort in the south of Brazil, composed of somewhere between 42 and 60 hectares of land. The most recent surveyor said 42; the last map, from 2001 measures out to about 60. There is an unfinished hotel, a restaurant, and about 108 homes on the land.

There's a lien for somewhere between R$300,000 and R$691,284.58 on 25 hectares of the land, and that should go to auction sometime soon - the appeals and delays have been exhausted. Also, the hotel has a mortgage on it currently at about R$300,000.

How can I tell what's on the part with the lien?

I've spent quite a bit of time trying to figure that out, and I don't know. Land documents give only areas and the names of neighbors or former neighbors. They don't give GPS points, they don't give the length of borders, they don't give the angles of corners, they don't list landmarks. The area is composed of about 9 parcels, five of which have the lien against them, and one of those has the mortgaged hotel. Of those nine parcels, one is triangular, and the description gives no hint of that. Some of the parcels that are listed as part of Colina clearly have other owners.

Essentially, it's a pig in a poke. There are half-a-dozen nice homes, but you don't know which part they're on.

What is similar land nearby worth?

Elaine at real estate firm Alice +55 51 3541-0400, showed me her listings for rural land. Two seemed fairly comparable, one in Fazenda Fialho, which is not far from Morro da Pedra, and 15 KM from the asphalt (Colina do Sol is about 12), and another in the direction of Rolante. Both about 25 hectares - 62 acres - which is what is under lien:

• (ref 2172) Parada 111, 15 Km from asphalt, 26 hectares, sheds, henhouse, chalet plus masonry annex, entire area usable, truck can drive to crop area, three perennial ponds, fields, planding fields, pastures, raise cattle, a little virgin forest, eucaliptus, electricity, artesian well, fenced. Beco Agua Santa, 2590 - parada 111 - RS020. Fazenda Fialho - Value R$370,000
• (ref 1378) Wood house, green with brown, +-25 Ha, 21 being usable in field and hill, vertente and arioio [streamside?], artesian well and shed. All fenced. Three-phase electricity. more than 110 meters on road. Rua Rio da Ilha - 25 ha - Padilha. Value R$138,000.

The second is a farther from Morro da Pedra, and if I remember about 20 km from the asphalt. So those are two comparisons, and like all real estate listings, might come down if offered cash. The number for the first is R$14,200 the hectare; the more distant place is only $5,520. Knowledgable people here tell me in the area of Colina the going price is about R$8,000/hectare, going down to $5,000 for poor agricultural land - which much of Colina is.

So for a roll-your-own nudist camp, there are comparison prices. The part of Colina going up to auction is worth about R$200,000 as raw land. The whole 42 hectares as raw land is R$340,000.

What are the trees worth?

The land is registered as a tree farm. If you look at Google Earth, you see perhaps R$400,000 worth of trees. But Google Earth is out of date - a lot of those were cut last year. The money didn't show up on Colina's financial statements, but the trees are gone. What's left is worth maybe R$100,000, above and beyond the price of the land.

What are the improvements worth?

A leading local surveyor claims the electric instalations are worth R$120,000. On the houses he says, "Some are worth R$8,000, some R$10,000, some R$100,000. I'd have to survey onsite." People who know say there are half-a-dozen nice houses, and of the rest, about half are salvageable.

The hotel is roughly half-built - the shell is there and the lowest floor is finished. It would take around R$250,000 to finish at current rates.

Are the constructions properly approved by the government?

Not a single one. According to the city of Taquara, everything there, including the hotel, is officially "under construction". I hear different things about if and how it could all be legalized. One source says illegal subdivision is six months in a Brazilian prison, and a project to legalize it all is R$100,000. The City of Taquara Corporate Counsel says there are other ways.

Can 500 homes really be built there?

The critical factor is septic systems. It doesn't look anywhere near possible to me, but I'm not an expert, and have been unable to to have someone do a perc test.

Do investments need to be made?

The lake needs to be cleaned. No study every seems to have been done of power and water needs for the hotel, many of the houses are in poor repair or unrepairable. There's no year-round pool.

Is it a safe investment?

Well, the largest investor in the hotel was killed, another couple fled Colina, several foreigners found it prudent to leave, four had false accusations made against them by Colina's management and one had a firebomb planted in her chimney inside Colina ...

Oh, you meant is your money safe?

Are there any other pending problems?

Well, the false accusation were made by the Colina directors, and they sent their lawyer to watch the trial. It's hard to separate the association's actions from that of its directors. There may be large lawsuits, for far more than the total value of the property.

What's it actually worth, all together?

Possibly worth as much as R$800,000 to R$1,000,000 if you can get it all, not only the 25 acres with the liens but the rest too.

And of course if you can get it without the current management, and without Celso Rossi. With them, your investment will be worth nothing at all.