Giving Water Resources their Due (Diligence)

March 07, 2006 — By Trout Headwaters, Inc.

LIVINGSTON, Mont. — Trout Headwaters, Inc. (THI), a Livingston, Montana-based aquatic restoration leader, is now offering real estate investors a fast, low-cost way to verify the condition and potential of streams, lakes and wetlands, ideally before they buy.

While few ever consider buying a building without assessing the physical condition of the structure, many valuable properties along rivers and lakes, or with private streams or wetlands, are being purchased with little investigation into the quality or values of those resources.

"It's amazing to me that buyers don't always demand water resource due diligence on these specialty properties," says Alex Maher of Live Water Properties, LLC in Jackson Hole, Wyo. "When as much as half of the sale price - hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in some cases - is dependent upon the value of a property's water resources, lack of proper due diligence in regard to those resources can be an expensive gamble for some buyers."

As any good real estate professional will tell you, most properties have some hidden defects, and the sooner those are understood in the purchase process, typically the better the experience for both buyer and seller.

Relying only on anecdotal information concerning complex assets like water resources cannot be considered meaningful due diligence. Streams, lakes or wetlands may appear pristine at certain times during the year, but actually may be plagued with hidden problems such as severe disturbances in the watershed, high water temperatures, excessive sediment, dangerous contaminants, dewatering problems and prior treatments that damaged the health of the system. Ponds and lakes can have a myriad of problems which in short order can result in a practically dead system, save the algae and pond scum that blooms in abundance every year.

"The function of due diligence is to verify, verify, verify," says THI Vice President Jim Muth. "While anecdotal opinions like 'it's a great fishery' or 'the lake is just beautiful' have their place in marketing literature and casual conversation, this type of information does not replace appropriate due diligence. Neither do pictures of big fish caught 'just last week.'"

By developing revolutionary technologies tailored specifically for assessment of freshwater resources, THI is now able to offer reliable water-resource due diligence assessments with the lowest-cost and fastest turn-around time in the industry. Services are national and available to property owners, real-estate investors, and real-estate professionals. For more information please visit THI's website at www.troutheadwaters.com or call toll-free 800-218-8107.

Contact Info:

For Trout Headwaters, Inc.:
Jim Muth, Vice President
Tel: (406) 222-3554
E-Mail: jim@troutheadwaters.com


For Live Water Properties, LLC:
Alex Maher, Broker
Tel: (307) 734 -6100
E-mail: alex@livewaterproperties.com
Website: www.livewaterproperties.com

Website : Trout Headwaters, Inc.