Land in Tennesse - Nursery

204 acre nursery with 35 acre lake. The ad describes the property as follows:

Completely stocked with 70 varieties/species of ornamental trees and shrubs. Stock is worth more than asking price, trees insured for $3.5 million. 35 acre stocked lake! Will sell land without trees for reduced price. 40x80 building with offices and equipment storage area. There is a 175 ft. well on property and city water. There are 3 entrances into the property. Amazing property with beautiful rolling hills and great business opportunity. Tree stock is worth more than asking price. Owner has owned over 12 years and needs to retire. Owner will train buyer if needed! Buyer could sell the trees, pay for land, and still acquire huge profit!

It's in a good location--about half way between Nashville and Chattanooga. Here's the Bing link to the property (select Aerial to get the satellite view). Some additional notes:

• Utilities: City water, electricity, telephone services. Septic tank. She believes it has internet service, but not certain. (Probably can get it via telephone/DSL.) Has 175 foot well on property.
• As of 2009 inventory, has over 45,000 ornamental trees of over 50 species.
• The owner is willing to teach whoever buys how to run the business. He will help buyer with the names and locations of best expos.
• Has 40x80 block steel frame barn with two small office rooms. Bathroom and shower. Tin roof. No other building structures.
• The lake is spring feed, with flow over into a creek. No danger of flooding the property. The lake is 25 feet at its deepest. Has neighbors on the southern edges of the lake. However, the owner has rights on the southern shore up to 10 feet.
• Has all mineral rights.
• Natural gas can be piped in for free, since the region (including this property) has ownership rights. There is a pipe near the property that one can connect to. The owner lives in the area and runs his house with natural gas for free.
• I asked about coal mining in the area and she said they used to mine coal some 5-10 miles from there many years ago, but not anymore. (The Cumberland Plateau is known for its coal deposits. I know they mine for coal further north in Kentucky, etc.)
  

About the business:

• October-May: In season. This is generally when the orders come in.
• June-September: Maintenance. This is when new seedlings are planted and grown.
• Buyers are accessed through trade shows/expos. The owner has no internet presence.
• When applying for a nursery license the state sends the information to join the Nursery Association. The Nursery Association will send information on buyers and expos.
• Sales: In field-buyers bring equipment to extract trees. Shipping-extract and ship across nation.
• Equipment: Owner uses 1 big tractor and 2 small tractors/mowers for maintenance.
• Catastrophic Insurance: The federal government has program to insure the inventory for about $200 a year. This property's inventory is insured to $3.5 million in the event of a fire, tornado, earthquake, etc.
• Property taxes: About $500 per year.

35 acre lake. The large lake may be useful if a geothermal heating and cooling system is needed. It is the most economical of the geothermal systems. Here are diagrams of the system using a lake/pond: 4seasonsgeo.com and acegeo.com. Here is an example of one used for a hospital in Illinois. Here is another website on this installation. The geothermal system can also be used to heat greenhouses. A newer, smaller type of geothermal system called GeoColumn is worth looking at. They just started selling the GeoColumn in 2009.

Natural gas. This property has rights to the region's natural gas. All heating needs can be taken care of with this free resource. Also, the gas can be used to run machinery and in greenhouse CO2 injection (commonly used to speed plant growth). It also has an over 10% beneficial effect in the early years of a tree.

Temperatures in Monteagle (approximately 15 miles away)

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
Max °F	43.2	48.2	56.9	66.0	73.2	80.2	83.4	83.0	77.5	67.6	56.6	47.2	65.3
Min °F	26.2	30.1	37.6	45.9	54.2	61.5	65.8	64.6	59.0	47.6	38.7	29.9	46.8

Precipitation in Monteagle (approximately 15 miles away)

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
Inch	5.98	5.04	6.94	5.03	5.52	4.78	5.52	4.04	4.94	4.25	5.88	5.93	63.77

Internet service providers

• Charter.com - Cable with 8 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. Phone: 866-667-7167. Price: $65/month. (I called and confirmed availability.)
• MyBlueDish.com - Satellite with 1.5 Mbps download and 512 Kbps upload. Phone: 877-316-1889. Price: $80/month. (I checked their website and confirmed.)
• Phone company in the area should have DSL service but need to verify.