Skip to main content

Overhead utility line right of way/easement and fence headache. What are my options?

I’ll try and keep this short and sweet because I’m not sure what to do.

I’m in the process of buying a non-HOA home where there’s a large easement/right of way in the back with power lines running perpendicular to it. Seller put up a brand new fence that goes between the house and ends right under the power lines. Meanwhile, neighboring fences are set back about 15 feet from them.

During and right after the negotiation period I explicitly asked all parties about this, didn’t really hear much other than attorneys were working with the seller on making sure it was approved by the easement owner. This went on for weeks, not really much word back.

Meanwhile, because I was very skeptical, I read up on the utility’s right of way requirements. I drove around looking at nearby with the same H-frame power lines and saw some with fences extending underneath. Seemed fine. Some friends even said I was being paranoid.

Now we’re days past the contingency period still waiting on hearing back from the seller on formal repair requests acceptance, and I come to find out today from my realtor that the seller/seller’s parties spoke with someone at the utility/easement owner on the phone (nothing written), and they now have to pay to bring the fence in-line with the neighboring fences. This reduces the backyard pretty substantially than what I was expecting.

When I asked about alternatives or figuring out if I could possibly extend the fence all the way with appropriate access even at my own expense (12-16’ fence gate for example), apparently I was supposed to do that as part of my due diligence. Which may be true, but am I now forced to accept this much smaller fenced-in backyard with no other alternatives?

I already sent an email to the utility company today asking about proposed options for fence extension that could possibly be approved, but that’s up in the air and I’m not the property owner so who knows if they’ll even follow up. Am I now SOL? Is my EMD lost as well if I don’t want to accept this change to the property?

tl;dr the seller put up a fence on an easement that wasn’t authorized, and now post-contingency period they have to reduce the fence space, and I don’t know if I want this house if (1) the useable backyard has to be cut in half, AND (2) there’s no other approved alternatives in the future.

submitted by /u/UnSCo
[link] [comments]

source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1s5g54y/overhead_utility_line_right_of_wayeasement_and/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aren't comps/CMAs useless with buyer credits at close happening now?

I'm looking into buying a new construction townhouse in my HCOL US city. I'm seeing builders offering interest rate buydowns worth $20k-$60k on $800k homes (rather than just lowering prices) in order to keep their comps high for their other units, now that buyer demand has been declining. I asked my agent about these, and he said these buydowns aren't even the full story: buyers can write all kinds of other credits into an offer, like their closing costs, prepaid sewer fees, etc. Apparently cash buyers can just write in a "buyer credit at close" for any amount in their offer. So a new townhouse that appeared to sell for $800k in the MLS might have actually been a cash offer with a $100k+ buyer credit at close, meaning the buyer only spent $700k or less in total, but to the rest of the world they can only see the $800k! So that made me realize I can't trust comps/CMAs for other new construction townhouses. The sales prices could be way lower than they appear...
1 comment
Read more

Pool fill without engineer oversight

We are in the process of purchasing our first ever home in CA and we just discovered in the disclosures that the new build property we are purchasing previously had a swimming pool which was filled without an engineer onsite to approve the work (details from disclosure below). Is this something we should be concerned with or not? Is it something we should have additional inspections conducted on? We are originally from the UK and not really sure what to do with this information and if it is concerning or not. A POOL DID EXIST PREVIOUSLY. COPING, TILE, GUNNITE AND REBAR WERE ALL REMOVED AND DIRT AND CLEAN DRAIN ROCK WERE USED TO FILL IT IN. COMPACTED FILL WAS NOT USED AND NO ENGINEER APPROVED THE DIRT AND DRAIN ROCK FILL IN submitted by /u/tommot82 [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/dpyzw8/pool_fill_without_engineer_oversight/
Post a Comment
Read more

Making offers on houses not listed for sale.

I want to buy a home for retirement. I am looking at lots of options, mostly focusing on the locations that appeal to me. I see lots of Zillow estimates of homes that look like great deals to me. Are these estimates accurate, even though similar houses in the same area that are for sale are usually priced much higher? If so, is it realistic for me to try to make offers to owners that do not have their homes listed? Would a realtor even consider helping me do this? Or, do these values indicate that the houses listed for sale are overpriced, and I should just lowball until someone accepts? Are houses today tending to sell far below list prices, or ??? submitted by /u/chewybrian [link] [comments] source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1o4mcon/making_offers_on_houses_not_listed_for_sale/
Post a Comment
Read more