Proposed Easement Advice (Long)

ultrarunner · Aug 13, 2006

An out-of-town land owner has been after mom for a road easement to gain a secondary access route to his land. Mom does not want to be involved with any "Joint" projects and is content to leave things as they are and has asked me for advice.

My Dad worked very hard to pay-off the mortgage before he passed-away so Mom could enjoy her home without having to worry.

Over the last 8 years, the developer has bought enough contiguous parcels around my mother's home to the point where he now owns 67 acres just inside the city limit.

He has been unsuccessful in moving forward on building 30 or so luxury homes because he only has 20 feet of public road frontage. The city, at a minimum requires two separate public road access points for a project of this size, with one access being a full road at 40 to 50 feet wide.

Mom owns about 6 acres. Her home is on two parcels and her "Backyard" parcel (5 acres +/-) happens to have 50 feet of frontage where the existing public road dead-ends and where the developer wants to put a road right down the middle.

It is completely her call. I think she should just wish the developer well and tell him that she is not interested. Am I being short sighted? Would it be better to sell the land outright rather then grant an easement if she was so inclined?

The developer insists that he would be "Improving" Mom's property by putting in a road at no cost to her...?

LarryD · Aug 13, 2006

The only improvement is going to be to the developers bank account, not that that is wrong.

There is 90 acres next to me that recently went through the same sort of constraints. I was willing to grant additional easement for certain considerations but another neighbor was wanting to much $ for their piece. Bottom line is the guy put a road in from another direction and the houses will be built.

A high end developement certainly wont hurt you mom's property value but then the taxes should reflect that. Maybe she could grant the easement with setback considerations for houses ($ too) so she could maintain some of her privacy. This developer has a lot of money tied up in his plans and he probably will get his project going, just playing devils advocate.

stumpfield · Aug 13, 2006

ultrarunner said:
The developer insists that he would be "Improving" Mom's property by putting in a road at no cost to her...?

Here's my 2 cents...

Just no cost to her??? Are you kidding? Get appraisals on the developer's "land without the easement...just plain residential land" and "land with the easement and the potential for such a huge project". The difference in value is what the easement is worth. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out. For a project this size, if the easement is really what's holding up the whole development project. You're talking about big bucks here. This is not the usual easement or lot line adjustment with your good old neighbor. With the easement, it will greatly enhance the value of the developer's land. The developer's sole interest is to make his land more valuable and make lots of $$$. Don't gave it away.... Do your mon a big favor. Either a flat "NO" or hire someone with the expertise to handle this.

EddieWalker · Aug 13, 2006

Knowing your area a little and having dealt with one take over from eminent domain, I'd be very careful on what you do here. The more successful builders in your area have some very interesting ways of getting what they want. You know the old saying, it's just business to them.

There are many, many areas around you that an acre of land is worth a million bucks.

Fighting him and his influence can be very expensive on your part, and if you win, you still lose.

I know there are many parcels of land that go for over a million dollars an acre in your area. Do you know what the land is worth?

Call five diferent realtors and tell them you want to sell the land. Tell them that there is a developer who has over 60 acres next to you and he's planning on building multi-million dollar homes on his land.

If it's some rediculous amount, add twenty percent and put it on the market. I know you have plans to leave the area, would your Mom be willing to move if she had a few million dollars in her pocket?

Once the land is up for sale, it becomes allot harder to claim it as eminent domain for just a few grand an acre. If you hire a big real esate company, you will also have them fighting for you. They want there 6 or 5 percent and will protect you from the developer better than you can on your own. There lawyers are also better at this than most of the ones you have to chose from.

A friend had 11 acres near the Calducot Tunnel in Montclaire. It was just about straight up and down and next to useless to build on. He figured that one day it would be worth something to somebody, so he listed it for 1.5 million dollars and took 1.2 million after a few years. He didn't care when it sold, just that he got his price when it did.

The buyer needed the land for a second entrace to a small development. I think it was less than ten homes, but they were ten million dollar spec homes with a view of the SF Bay and the city.

A month after the deal cleared and my buddy was paid, the developer died in a car crash.

Good luck,
Eddie

Sigarms · Aug 13, 2006

ultrarunner said:
The developer insists that he would be "Improving" Mom's property by putting in a road at no cost to her...?

Not knowing the land, that last statement seems at the least the developer is trying to take advantage of the land and of your mother.

I'd lean towards the realtor advice already given here. Sooner or later, by whatever means, if your mother does not sell, she will have something done that she probably doesn't want done and will be unhappy.

bones1 · Aug 13, 2006

"Knowing your area a little and having dealt with one take over from eminent domain, I'd be very careful on what you do here. The more successful builders in your area have some very interesting ways of getting what they want. You know the old saying, it's just business to them."

Eddie is right.Put it up for sale at real good price and see what happens. You don't have to sell it now and can always take it off the market.With that kind of money on the line you have to be careful who the developer "knows" in the local government.

Paddy · Aug 13, 2006

Some times you just have to evaluate to big picture. As others have said, could be a time to sell for big money and move on. If the developer buys additional land and gets his second acess, your mom's land might not be needed any more. So is it realy the only option for his second entrance?

We have a few ac lake front. Nice but for years there was no defined acess to our group dock. One owner to my E. side allowed folks acess but nothing permnent. Finally, the dock group wanted an easement. It was down my edge for $$ or for free via another adjacent land to my west. The "free" route would have been very close to our future home. So I was forced to sell the easement cheep to keep it away from my house.

I hope it works out for your mom

ultrarunner · Aug 13, 2006

Some good advice, thanks LarryD, Stumpfield, Eddie, Sigarms, bones1 and Paddy.

UPDATE.... I just learned that the Developer has listed his 67 acre project for $8.5 mil... I wonder why he forgot to mention that to us?

This is what the listing says:

62 single family residence were initially designed for the project but this number may be too modest for this site. In accords to the zoning one could maximize the building site with 128 homes or any number below that optimum depending on the lot size. We have a number of minor studies completed on the property but no EIR, phase I or II, nor soils report. The property is to be bought "AS IS".

EddieWalker · Aug 13, 2006

Interesting.

It lets you know the land is worth almost $128,000 an acre for raw land, and even more interesting is that he knows he can't build on it without the second entrance, but is willing to list it without mentioning that. Of course, those who buy land for developement would have to be pretty green to not check this out. Especially if they are gonna pay millions for the land, but then again, he did. hahaha

This does open up another can of worms. What if he sells it to somebody with more clout or better connections than the original developer??

When my friends land was taken from him by eminent domain, he fought it for years, but in the end, lost the land and didn't get paid very much for it. A similar sized parcel on the same road sold for $200,000 an acre. It's in Sunol, so maybe you know the area??

His land was taken by the Park. The original price was $10,000 an acre. He spent over a hundred grand in legal fees, and managed to get it up to $35,000 an acre.

If you get into an eminent domain fight, there's no winning.

Good luck,
Eddie

ultrarunner · Aug 13, 2006

Good point Eddie and one that I did not think of. The 67 acres is bounded by a public golf course, city park, city open space and a public school with a Ball Field. Maybe the developer listed the property to set a price in case the city wants it?

The funny thing about this property is that the city had the opportunity to buy it for $20 to 25k per acre in 1999 and refused on the basis that it would no longer be on the tax rolls. All most everyone living in the area believed this land was already city open space and have been shocked to find out that homes might now be built.