Ingress/Egress easements

[Worksmart]

Hi all... I'm currently looking for some rural property in SE Michigan(minimum 10 acres). What I am seeing is many properties either grant or receive ingress/egress easements. I have a good working knowledge of real estate transactions. Besides hoping you get along with the grantor or grantee, what are some things that can go terribly wrong with this type of situation? Anybody with "real world" bad experiences? Thanks C

 

[RSeymour]

Chuck,
I am also SE Mich. (Livingston County).

I have 2 neighbors (1 on 5 acres & 1 on 10 acres) that use an easement (private easement) across the front of my property. I have had no issues but am lucky as both are good neighbors. As I am in the middle of a 5 acre min. zoning district with all the available lots built, I do not have much (that I am aware of) to worry about.

I'm sure there are other things to consider, but my main caution is to be sure the easement could not eventually become an entrance to a sub or some sort of commercial enterprise.

 

[dmccarty]

WorkSmart,

People will drop in some comments but also search/look at threads
about tresspassers and easements. We seem to go through
our latest headaches every month or so. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I'm frowning at
the headache causers not us TBN denizens talking about our problems
with tresspassers and easements. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I actually have a new update to one of my continuing problems but
I'm just waiting for the situation to develop some more and for the thread
to pop up again! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Wish I did not have the problem....

Later...
Dan McCarty

 

[Tractor_Barn]

Chuck,

I have 32 acres for sales in northern Macomb county.

 

[pdxman]

Hi Worksmart, look up a post I had awhile back called "Definition of an Easement". It's my ingress/egress story that still continues today.

 

[rancar]

Chuck,

You have to be real careful about these easements. About 3 threes ago, a potential buyer of a landlocked parcel of 38 acres attempted to obtain an easement from us across one of our crop fields to gain access to the property he wanted to buy. He asked other neighbors, they all said no. We were his last chance. If we had granted this easement, he would have placed a road right down the center of our crop field, thus, jeopardizing the value of this crop field and its potential for resale at a later date if we wanted to sell it. We also knew nothing about this potential buyer except he operated a drinking hole in the local village known for its bar room fights and tangles in the parking lot outside. Well, nuf-ced here so we said no way.

About a month later, we were sued for an easement by the owner of the 38 acre parcel who wanted to sell to the other guy. He was claiming all kinds of legal rights that had to do with previous title ownership and how land was subdivided in the past...all very complicated. Bottom line was we told the owner you want an easement, then sue us, take us to court, and prove your case. This would have cost him about $30K and us about $30K in our defense. Considering he couldn't obtain title insurance on this parcel because it was landlocked, he couldn't justify paying for a lawsuit. We instead offered to buy this parcel for the same $30K, close to what he was asking for it. He had no choice but to sell to us.

End of all this was seller got what he wanted, other potential buyer was left out in the cold and soured about the whole experience, and we wound up with a parcel of land we really didn't want but felt we had to buy to resolve this situation amicably.

This parcel, by the way, is where I'll be spending a lot of my time this summer with the new JD4710 that's coming in about a month /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif...many old logging trails to clean up. Hope some of this helps, especially as it pertains to the need and advice to look at all elements, big and small, of these real estate deals where easements are involved.

Regards,
Bob Ancar
Cambridge, NY

 

[Von]

Bob, Now subdivide it into 5 ac. lots and sell them for $30k each! and now your a land baron!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[rancar]

Von,

<font color=blue>Now subdivide it into 5 ac. lots and sell them for $30k each</font color=blue>

You and I are thinking along the same lines. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif This is a very viable option. I now have ROW access to this landlocked parcel and could easily put a road through. Now, the bigger problem is putting a road in that meets Town highway standards...this would be very expensive. The Town will not build this road for me...in fact, it would be an up hill fight just to get the local municipality to get this road approved on the official map for maintenance purposes. My Town just doesn't like to add additional miles to the roads they have to maintain and plow in the winter. Another option would be to sell this parcel with a ROW access to a developer that has the financial means to build a road that meets Town approved specs. They would also have the negotiating (legal) skills necessary to get the Town to adopt this road for official mapping purposes. I may not be able to sell 5 acre lots for $30K but I may settle for $10--15K /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif and still I'd be happy. Let's see, that would be about $80-100K, about a 200% profit on my initial investment. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Not Bad.

Bob

 

[Worksmart]

Tractor_Barn

Are you including a tractor with that acreage?/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Actually we're looking in Monroe, Washtenaw, and Livingston counties. Westsiders...don't ya know. Thanks anyways for the heads up. C

 

[Worksmart]

Bob

Thanks for your comment. Like I mentioned, I have some experience in real estate. A situation similar to yours...Developer wanted to plat a subdivision. It turned out he would then create a landlocked parcel he DIDN'T own. State of MI wouldn't sign off on the plat until HE provided an easement to the "orphaned" parcel. Turned out the owner of the landlocked parcel also owned a contiguous parcel thru which a easement could be granted. The developer had to pay the owner to grant an easement to himself.

This stuff can be tricky so that's why I'm looking for experiences. I'd prefer my "dream" homesite not to become a nightmare! C

 

[Tractor_Barn]

I moved back here from Plymouth. Looked out around Howell a few years ago. Found some parcels I liked but the wife (now ex) didn't want to get so isolated. I'm living on 42 acres now...Good Luck.

 

[rancar]

Chuck,

<font color=blue>I'd prefer my "dream" homesite not to become a nightmare!</font color=blue>

Best thing to do, if you can, is to look for a clean parcel with road frontage and clear and direct utility ROWs. If you have this, you should have no problem getting title insurance. Then, the 'dream' home could rise without this nagging thought in the back of your mind about easements and wondering if someone will come along someday and want to put a road through your vegetable garden /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif.

Bob

 

[DocHeb]

Make sure that you can get a septic and driveway permit for any property that you're considering. Our septic was "perked" nine years ago, and Washtenaw County, MI has tightened the restrictions on septic since that time. It would be an unbuildable lot now. It took a fight and research into the original approvals to get a septic permit and approval to build. Also, the driveway permits in the same county are quite restrictive - make sure you understand them and are sure you can get a driveway that fits within the line-of-sight restrictions. The logical place for our driveway (and the road commission agreed that it really was the logical site) didn't meet the 530 foot sightline required. We had to get a variance - it delayed house building for four months, and the longer driveway will be $3000 more.

 

[OverlyRun]

We depend on an easement that is in our title for use of the road that gives access to our land. When we bought it, I offered to lay down crushed stone on the part of the roqad that is used by my neighbor as well as by me, and carrying on to our lot. I also donated some culvert so he could direct some run-off under the road we share. Everything is hunky dory and we both have better access.

On the other hand, my father has an easement across his front yard....the guy who used to cut wood down behind him came in only once or twice a year on a small cat pulling a log sled. He died a few years back and the son now drives big trucks through, turning in the front field, leaving big ruts etc. Big problem and a vaguely worded easement that would be expensive to sort out in court.

Seems to me that the formalities can get you about so far, but at the end people have got to sort out how to make it work for both.