Another home selling question-would you?

[pinball]

10 minutes ago, DawnM said:

so long and narrow.

Shotgun house!

One of my fav styles

 

https://prcno.org/the-geography-of-the-shotgun-house/

[DawnM]

6 minutes ago, TechWife said:

Never say never. I just looked our current house up online to verify. We have 4900 sq feet on .15 acre, built just a few years ago in a high growth area.

It won't be allowed here.   It is too narrow, you couldn't even get 15' on each side to meet code of the building not closer than 15' to the neighbor's property line.   The width isn't even 30' anyway, so in order to have 15' on each side......it simply cannot happen.

Our realtor even called our HOA to verify a few things, one of them being whether the property would be subject to any HOA fees.   She was told no, because it is not buildable.

[wintermom]

I would buy the land. It's a reasonable price, and having control of that piece of land will benefit you if you stay, or the new owners if you do sell. I don't see a negative other than a relatively small $ amount.

Edited August 8, 2023 by wintermom

[DawnM]

14 minutes ago, TechWife said:

Is that due to environmental reasons, like needing a well? Here to have a well the minimum lot size for a well is 1 acre & it can't be in an incorporated area. Also, keep in mind that laws & rules can be changed quite easily, especially in a high growth area. All it takes is the property owner getting a friendly reception on an appeal to the correct departments/town councils, etc.

Properties are often bought contingent on appropriate zoning and permissions being obtained.

Simply because it's zoned for a road now isn't a guarantee that it will always be zoned like that.

It's also a good size for a neighborhood playground if the HOA wants to bid on it. Not everyone wants to live next to a playground.

 

No, it is just the most recent "rule" to keep our area more spaced out and not over built.   Outside of our town, rules are different.   I don't know all the ins and outs, just that people were talking about it on Nextdoor and were hoping to keep our area not so built up.   There are only single family homes in our town, no apartments, no condos, no townhouses.   Only single family homes.   And they all now need to be on 1 acre min. and then each neighborhood can decide how large the houses need to be and any perimeters when it comes to that (like only one dwelling on the property, size of home, type of home, etc....)

[TechWife]

9 minutes ago, DawnM said:

No, it is just the most recent "rule" to keep our area more spaced out and not over built.   Outside of our town, rules are different.   I don't know all the ins and outs, just that people were talking about it on Nextdoor and were hoping to keep our area not so built up.   There are only single family homes in our town, no apartments, no condos, no townhouses.   Only single family homes.   And they all now need to be on 1 acre min. and then each neighborhood can decide how large the houses need to be and any perimeters when it comes to that (like only one dwelling on the property, size of home, type of home, etc....)

Kudos to everyone for thinking ahead. Here everyone wants as many houses on as little land as possible - developers want the $$ and towns want the tax revenue.

I think there’s about 12 feet between the front outside corner of our house and our next door neighbors’. We’re on a corner so we don’t have a close neighbor on that side. We have a flood plain behind the houses across the street so our view is actually decent - esp in the fall. 

[Annie G]

37 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Not I our neighborhood and not in our town.   There are strict rules.   In fact, the current rule is that all homes in our area have to have a full acre to build on, but it used to be 1/2 acre.   

And our neighborhood says all homes have to be a certain min. size, I can't imagine anything even fitting there with it being so long and narrow.

That’s how it is in our county- used to be a half acre, then an acre, now it’s three. They are doing it to limit growth because utilities, services, schools are all stretched.  In our neighborhood there are a few lots left and they are grandfathered in because they are just under an acre.  But no way would a lot here that wasn’t originally zoned for a home be allowed to skirt the rules. And the strip next to you was never zoned for a home. 
Having said that, I’d probably buy it just to give you control over the space and eliminate any buyer hesitation, whether yiu sell now or decide to stack around a while longer. 

[DawnM]

6 minutes ago, Annie G said:

That’s how it is in our county- used to be a half acre, then an acre, now it’s three. They are doing it to limit growth because utilities, services, schools are all stretched.  In our neighborhood there are a few lots left and they are grandfathered in because they are just under an acre.  But no way would a lot here that wasn’t originally zoned for a home be allowed to skirt the rules. And the strip next to you was never zoned for a home. 
Having said that, I’d probably buy it just to give you control over the space and eliminate any buyer hesitation, whether yiu sell now or decide to stack around a while longer. 

That might be another reason.   Our county is very taxed with growth and no place for kids to go to school, etc.....our county was in the top 15 counties for growth in the country for quite a long time.   Not sure where it is now.   However, the entire county doesn't have the same rules.

[Carrie12345]

In my township, I would not pay for easement land. At any point in time, a “paper road” can be turned into an actual public road, or a road used by officials.

No one will legally build on it because they can’t legally get a permit. 
 

Someone here just tried to get his lots combined so he could put a shed on one. They denied the joiner because of the paper road between the two.

It’s dead land.

At the very least, talk to the zoning officer. 

[Annie G]

2 minutes ago, DawnM said:

That might be another reason.   Our county is very taxed with growth and no place for kids to go to school, etc.....our county was in the top 15 counties for growth in the country for quite a long time.   Not sure where it is now.   However, the entire county doesn't have the same rules.

Same here- the county rules don’t apply to the little town. The towns can make their own rules, but none are currently under an acre without special permission. Our county really wants to remain rural but the neighboring county is where our flagship state university is and that county is bursting at the seams and people want to move here. 
Top 15 for growth in the country?! Wow. Clearly a great place to live. 

[QumaCote]

We live in a city with larger lot sizes which is why we moved here. (Not 1 acre but large for the county.) However, the state has now mandated that the density must increase. They are saying the local zoning laws don’t apply. This is happening all over the area not just in my city. 
 

Hence, my response would be to buy it. 

[DawnM]

16 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

In my township, I would not pay for easement land. At any point in time, a “paper road” can be turned into an actual public road, or a road used by officials.

No one will legally build on it because they can’t legally get a permit. 
 

Someone here just tried to get his lots combined so he could put a shed on one. They denied the joiner because of the paper road between the two.

It’s dead land.

At the very least, talk to the zoning officer. 

This one can't be made into a public road, it would only be for our neighborhood.   It has a private road in front, two private homes on each side, and then private land behind it that is also surrounded by our neighborhood.   It wouldn't publicly go anywhere.   And no officials would have any reason to use a space that doesn't go anywhere.

 

[DawnM]

Here is a picture to give you a little better understanding of what I am referring to.   The blue is my property at .75/acre.   The red is the easement, all grass, between our properties.   Behind my property, that large area, belongs to a private owner.   

Our neighborhood is finished, even if that guy sold the property, the man who built our neighborhood is dead.   Someone could come in, but they wouldn't be the same developer, so most likely it wouldn't need or want a road anyway since it wouldn't be the same neighborhood.

I whited out the names of the streets.

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Katy said:

In Florida go to your county’s assessor website and find your property. There should be an option to look by map, and the surrounding parcels will have a link where you can see ownership details. 

thank you. I can tell now that the HOA owns it, and I THINK it is zoned for future property development, although this neighborhood has been here 20 years and no one has built on it yet, so fingers crossed. I mean, it wouldn't be terrible, but the construction phase would suck!

[ktgrok]

16 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Here is a picture to give you a little better understanding of what I am referring to.   The blue is my property at .75/acre.   The red is the easement, all grass, between our properties.   Behind my property, that large area, belongs to a private owner.   

Our neighborhood is finished, even if that guy sold the property, the man who built our neighborhood is dead.   Someone could come in, but they wouldn't be the same developer, so most likely it wouldn't need or want a road anyway since it wouldn't be the same neighborhood.

I whited out the names of the streets.

Ok, I'm on team buy it, because that little parcel is weird, and would be off putting to me. 

[Carrie12345]

4 minutes ago, DawnM said:

This one can't be made into a public road, it would only be for our neighborhood.   It has a private road in front, two private homes on each side, and then private land behind it that is also surrounded by our neighborhood.   It wouldn't publicly go anywhere.   And no officials would have any reason to use a space that doesn't go anywhere.

 

And you have all that in official writing?

We have multiple easements and paper roads between neighborhoods, but they’re still under township legal authority. 

[Lecka]

I don’t think only difficult people worry about easements.  Maybe this easement is fine, but a lot could cause problems.  

[I talk to the trees]

I vote buy it. Our house in NY had a very similar easement on the property. It was originally planned to be an alley between two streets, but that never happened. I am so glad that the previous owners of our house bought the easement because we wound up putting a very nice sized garden on that strip of land. 

[Tree Frog]

I would buy it, then raise your price. Owning the easement might make your house value go up and you could ask for more than you pay for it.

[DawnM]

1 hour ago, Carrie12345 said:

And you have all that in official writing?

We have multiple easements and paper roads between neighborhoods, but they’re still under township legal authority. 

Ours is owned by an individual.

[Carrie12345]

8 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Ours is owned by an individual.

I understand that. So is a tax sale property down the road from me, but it’s zoned as green space, so the Twp controls its usage. I own My lot in a private community, but the township can take the first 10’ of my road frontage if they want.

 I’m just saying, talk to zoning before paying for something! It’s probably a super simple phone call that won’t cost a dime. 

[DawnM]

47 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I understand that. So is a tax sale property down the road from me, but it’s zoned as green space, so the Twp controls its usage. I own My lot in a private community, but the township can take the first 10’ of my road frontage if they want.

 I’m just saying, talk to zoning before paying for something! It’s probably a super simple phone call that won’t cost a dime. 

ok

[Tap]

The alternative is letting the neighbor buy it. That way, it still makes it a resolved issue and not just a blind easement. The benefit, is bumping up to one acre tho. Your relator should be able to advise on the benefits of that tho. 

[Tap]

The alternative is letting the neighbor buy it. That way, it still makes it a resolved issue and not just a blind easement. The benefit to you, is bumping up to one acre tho. Your relator should be able to advise on the benefits of that. 

[DawnM]

We have told the realtor we will buy it, she is making sure to ask all the right questions about how much this will raise our taxes, HOA concerns, what can and can't be done on the property, etc....

If we end up staying, we will want to bump out our fence line and include that property, so we will use it.   

We aren't even allowed to build a shed on it without HOA approval, and all sheds must match the house (brick and stone in our case.).  And you must get pre-approval and show them the plans and the finished product specs before you can start building.