ocnative

Ortega ranch back on market for $22.5 million

February 12th, 2008

One of the biggest parcels of Orange County ranch land is up for sale, with renovated living quarters, barns, fenced pastures, helipads, a stocked pond and a small vineyard.

The 187-acre Rancho del Rio once was occupied by a drug smuggler, the Sheriff’s Department and the Girl Scouts. The Sheriff’s department got it for free from the Feds, who seized it in a drug forfeiture case. The Girl Scouts paid $2.1 million for it in 1991 using cookie money to help finance the deal. They resold it two years ago because it was too remote and lacked utilities. They got $3.65 million.

Now it’s back on the market, and this time the asking price is $22.5 million.

“It’s a beautiful property,” said Prudential California agent Stephen Sutherland, one of three agents listing the property. “It’s for people who don’t want to be bothered and have horses. … It’s for people who don’t want to have the paparazzi after them.” (To see the listing CLICK HERE!)

The owners planned to fix it up and keep it, but used it so little, they decided to sell it, Sutherland said. He said the asking price is justified because the owners invested about three times the purchase price fixing the property up. In the past two years, the new owners have installed a 250,000 water tank, generators and propane tanks to make up for the lack of utilities at the remote outpost.

They also got a good deal, he said, adding: “Quite frankly, they bought the property for much less than what it was worth.”

Jim Landis of NAI Capital Commercial, one of two agents representing the Girl Scouts Council of Orange County when they sold the property, agreed that the property may have been undervalued at the time. But, he added, the property was priced as a ranch not a luxury estate, and went for more than expected given what comparable ranch land sold for at the time. Still, he was surprised by the current price.

“You’re kidding!” he exclaimed when told what the owners are asking.

“That’s a pretty big spread, from $3.6 million to where they are now,” Landis said. ” … Sounds like they solved the water problem. They put in $10 million to $12 million. Perhaps it’s worth it.”