OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 91 ************************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 03 : Issue 91 Today's Topics: #1 [OH-FOOT] Oh-Mahoning Co. News (Ro [Archives ] Administrivia: To unsubscribe from OH-FOOTSTEPS-D, send a message to OH-FOOTSTEPS-D-request@rootsweb.com that contains in the body of the message the command unsubscribe and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. ______________________________ --Boundary_(ID_Kx7CaXcXvKpM10Idu+7aQw) Date: 8 Jun 2003 14:57:10 -0000 From: Archives Subject: [OH-FOOT] Oh-Mahoning Co. News (Robert Neff Carv) To: OH-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-id: <20030608145710.26665.qmail@mail.best1-host.com> Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 8BIT X-Message: #1 Mahoning County OhArchives News.....Robert Neff Carves Land into Homesites November 13 1966 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Jennifer Neff ffen@zoominternet.net June 8, 2003, 10:57 am Youngstown Vindicator >From “The Youngstown Vindicator” on Sunday, November 13, 1966 Real Estate Today – “Carving Raw Land into Homesites For Executives Gives Neff His Fun” By Glenn Morris, “Y.V.” Real Estate Editor An instructor in Ohio State University’s business school told Robert Neff years ago that the principles of developing land for home sites was simple: “Figure out which way the community is going to grow, then price land in that direction. When sellers begin quoting in acres, instead of lots, buy the acres and sell them as lots.” Neff, who since has become a major developer in Canfield and Boardman primarily, soon learned the professor oversimplified the business, “He forgot to mention all the problems.” Nevertheless, Neff says, changing raw land into home sites is great fun. Neff has developed some 650 lots since he began in the business, after graduation in 1939, with his father, Roy, a heating and plumbing contractor. Callahan Drive in Canfield was their first venture. He’s been associated since with such projects as Hillside, Neff, Sleepy Hollow, Blue Berry Hill and Sugar Bush drives and Deer Trail, all in Canfield, and Mill Creek Park Estates in Boardman, residential areas favored by executives and their families, plus another development in Florida near Cape Kennedy for space engineers. His titles include the presidencies of five corporations. Mill Creek Development, CNS, Meadowbrook Club, Neff Land and Southland Developers, the latter operating his Florida enterprise. Served in Navy World War II interrupted his career in 1942, when he was commissioned an ensign in the Navy. He was a training officer at Little Creek, Va., until 1944, when he was sent to Sampson Naval Base, second largest “boot camp” in the Navy, to assist on training problems. After discharge, he resumed land development and a sales position with Sheaffer Pen Co., turning to full-time development and house building in 1950, until 1958 when he concentrated solely on development. Where most ambitious men seek the fullest rewards, Neff says, he’s always wanted fun and leisure out of his work. “Otherwise, it isn’t worth the effort.” His goal,, set in college, was to earn as much per hour as the president of U.S. Steel – after taxes with short working hours.” I may not have reached the president’s level but I think I have reached a vice president’s level per hour – after taxes, partially because of industrial Executives’ heavy taxes.” Fun comes in working only 21/2 to three hours a day, he says, although he admits many days run to 15 hours or more, the fun coming later in long trips for hunting and fishing. A few weeks ago he bagged a bull elk in the Rockies, for example. But even on these, he keeps looking for ideas in developments wherever he goes. To Florida Combining pleasure and work led to his Florida venture. A friend in 1963 invited him on a jaunt, while the friend checked a building project near what was then called Cape Canaveral. The hectic activity at the base made him decide that all those northerners on its staff might like a northerner’s idea of building lots. The flat, treeless land there lacks high lots that northerners like. He couldn’t raise the lots, so he lowered the streets to create lots that were attractive and better drained, to the amazement of Florida builders. He’s in an area where Indian River front lots 100 by 150 feet bring $15,000. Now he’s eyeing Puerto Rico for more development. Neff considers himself a “custom developer of sites for higher priced homes.” His thrill comes to closely supervising every step as bulldozers hack out streets and workmen lay the lines, streets, etc. “That may eliminate the three- hour day till the project is completed, but it brings great satisfaction,” he concedes. His year’s work may concern only 15 or 20 customers – individuals and contractors.” Having fewer customers to satisfy gives me more time for fishing than a business with 2,500 customers,” he points out. Which Way? As the OSU professor implied, a developer must determine where the community will expand, then try to keep in front of it and be ready for a long wait for his profit. From purchase to resale may take years he notes. He expects the strongest residential development to continue to the west and southwest of the county, in the Austintown and Canfield areas as now, if local governments provide utilities to hook on to. Developers can’t provide everything and make out, he says. Developers have a strong influence in the specific direction in which communities expand, he notes. A stronger element than proximity to work in the selection of a site by an executive or workmen for a home, is the attractiveness of a residential area. And when one developer pioneers a new area, other developers will seek to “snuggle’ next to his project, accelerating the expansion. Development will continue strong in this area in the years to come, Neff is convinced, mainly on the strength of the GM plant and all it means, and now the solid prospects for the canal. And Neff expects to get a lot of fun out of it. Additional Comments: >From 1956 through 1986 Robert (Bob) Neff operated independently and headed five land development corporations in Ohio and Florida. His wife, Maxine, was his partner and acted as secretary and accountant. They developed high quality home sites in Canfield, and in six Mahoning County Townships and in Indiatlantic, Florida. They build 14 streets and developed 1904 acres by the time of their retirement. This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ohfiles/ File size: 6.0 Kb -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V03 Issue #91 ******************************************