| home | tax credits | services | benefits | real estate services | about/contact |   

Real Estate Services

Atoka Conservation Exchange, through its affiliation with Atoka Properties at Middleburg Real Estate, acts as a real estate broker and an advisor for landowners and conservation buyers.

Landowners have a variety of options when considering the preservation of their property and we assist owners in under­standing the options available to them and how to best accomplish their personal, financial and conservation goals based on the specific attributes of their property.

We work with our clients to identify short and long term conservation priorities which may include projects that protect farm and open space land, forests, as well as critical wetlands and stream corridors. Atoka assists real estate buyers in identifying, assessing, negotiating and successfully acquiring significant resource properties throughout Virginia. We assist with the negotiation of contracts, conservation easement terms, appraisals, surveys and environmental site assessment matters.

Through our understanding of the options available to landowners or land purchasers of properties with significant agricultural, scenic, historical, and other conservation values, we work with you to craft a comprehensive strategy for the easing, sale or donation of your land to best accomplish your objectives. Some options may include:

• Conservation Easements - Conservation easements are legal contracts which place in perpetuity restrictions on how the land can be used. Each easement can be tailored to the specific property and the needs of the individual landowner. The easement is donated to a land trust or public agency acting as the monitor or steward of the easement. Outright or partial donations of conservation easements to land trusts and public agencies can qualify as charitable contributions for income tax purposes and can also be an effective tool for reducing estate taxes and property taxes.
• Land Sales - Fee title to the property may be sold to a public agency or a land trust at the appraised fair market value. Funding for such transactions is available from a wide variety of federal, state, local and private sources depending upon the property attributes, geographic location and other factors.
• Bargain Sales - Fee title to the property may be sold at some percentage below the fair market value to a public agency or land trust. The difference between the property’s appraised market value and the sales price can qualify as a charitable contri­bu­tion for income tax purposes and in Virginia the 40% of the difference may be received in the form of tax credits for additional financial gain.
• Land Donations - Fee title to the property may be donated outright to a public agency or land trust. The fair market value of the property, substantiated by an appraisal, may be claimed by the donor as a charitable contribution for income tax purposes. Forty percent of the donation value may be received in the form of tax credits from Virginia.
• Reserved Life Estates - The donation or sale of property to a land trust or public agency may be completed with the owner allowed to continue to live and use the property usually until their death. This method allows the landowner to receive the benefit of using the property during his or her lifetime while also being assured that the land is preserved in the future.
• Combination of Options - The above strategies (and other techniques) are often combined to complete a conser­vation project. For example, a landowner may want to sell fee title to a portion of his/her property and simul­tan­eously sell (or donate) a conservation easement over the balance. Or, an owner may want to sell fee title to the bulk of his/her property and reserve a life estate over the family ranch compound.