Department of General Services

Disposition of Real Property

The Office of Real Estate administers the procedures for the disposition of County-owned, real property pursuant to COMCOR Chapter 11B, Section 45.01 (1994). The following is a general explanation of these procedures by which the County might sell surplus real property in a fair and equitable manner that is open to public scrutiny. The process is involved and takes ten to sixteen months to complete.

• Submit a letter to the Director, Office of Real Estate, expressing interest in purchasing a specific property. A written acknowledgement of the receipt of your letter will be sent. You will be asked to agree to pay the cost of an independent appraisal by an appraiser approved by the County to determine the fair market value (FMV) of the specific property. If a sale occurs, the appraisal fee will be deducted from the amount due at settlement. If a sale does not occur, the appraisal fee is non-refundable.
  
  
• Upon your agreement to pay the appraisal fee, the Office of Real Estate initiates a Preliminary Review of the property to determine whether it is needed for a current Capital Improvement Project (CIP) or is recommended in the Master Plan for a future public use.
  
  
• If recommended for reservation in Preliminary Review, the Office of Real Estate forwards an Executive Order on reuse and disposition to the County Executive (CEX) for decision, the disposition process stops if approved for reservation by the CEX.
  
  
• If the Preliminary Review does not reveal a need to keep the property, a Secondary Review is submitted to County agencies and outside agencies such as Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC), and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC). The purpose of the Secondary Review is to determine whether another public use exists for the property.
  
  
• After Secondary Review, the property is submitted to the Montgomery County Planning Board under what is known as Mandatory Referral seeking the Board’s opinion of the proposed sale of the property.
  
  
• If no reasons or needs are identified after the above steps, a preliminary recommendation known as a Reuse Analysis/Decision Memorandum is made to the Chief Administrative Officer seeking concurrence that the property appears to be surplus to County needs and requesting the County Executive to authorize a Public Hearing on the recommendation.
  
  
• The purpose of the Public Hearing is to solicit public input on the tentative recommendation. Notices of the hearing are advertised once a week for three consecutive weeks in the newspaper and are mailed to citizens whose property adjoins the County’s property and to citizen associations in the area. Notices are also sent to County agencies, outside agencies, and the County Council.
  
  
• The Hearing Examiner conducts the Public Hearing and receives verbal and written testimony on the recommendation. Upon closure of the record the Hearing Examiner makes a report and recommendation to the County Executive.
  
  
• Based upon the recommendations of the Hearing Examiner and the Office of Real Estate, the County Executive issues an Executive Order to: a) specify a reuse by County or outside agency, b) place the site in reservation for determination of reuse at a later date, or c) declare the site surplus and available for sale. If the property is declared surplus to the County and available for sale to the public, the County Executive will most likely select the method of sale in the Executive Order from these choices: minimum price competition, sealed bids, fixed price, direct negotiations, reuse competition, any variation/combination of these, or public auction.
  
  
• Advertisements of the sale are placed in the newspaper once a week for three consecutive weeks and a “for sale” sign is placed on the property.
  
  
• If the disposition method involves a public offering, the County will issue a request for proposals (RFP) or request for bids. RFP’s or bids are submitted in writing by a certain time and date. After they are opened a “tentative” winner is announced. The “winning” offering is then submitted to the Chief Administrative Officer, and if accepted, the winner is so notified and is required to sign a contract to purchase.
  
  
• Prior to the execution of the contract and the Deed of conveyance by the County, the proposed sale is again advertised in the newspaper once a week for three consecutive weeks seeking any objections. Notices of the proposed sale are also sent to County agencies, outside agencies, and the County Council. If no objections are received, the sale is completed.