Easements

How to get access to a landlocked parcel: the basics

April 5, 2019 by Tammy Tengs

You notice a landlocked parcel for sale, and you think “Gee, that’s a nice parcel at an amazing price”. But after reading the fine print you realize there’s no road to it and it doesn’t have an easement. The parcel is “landlocked”. “How will I ever get access” you wonder?

This is an important question, because access is needed to build. Here I describe the steps you can go through to obtain legal access.

This is an “Intro 101” examination of the basics, not an advanced discussion. My goal is to describe the process in a super simple manner to those buyers who have no idea how to get access to a parcel that is landlocked. If you have more advanced questions, you will want to consult a real estate attorney.

Key Things to Be Aware of First

A “landlocked” parcel is one that does not have access to a road because it is surrounded by property owned by other people.
The existence of a physical “road” that you can see with your eyeballs does not necessarily mean you have legal access.
Your goal is to obtain an “easement for ingress and egress” (access to go in and out). Once you have an easement, you will have the right to cross your neighbor’s private property to get to your property.
An easement is basically the right to use the real property of another for a specific purpose. Legal title to the underlying land is retained by the original owner.
Easements “run with the land”. That means when you sell your property or your neighbor sells his property, the easement stays in place. Humans come and go. Land and easements stay where they are. So any future owner of your land would also have access via the easement and any future owner of your neighbor’s parcel would still have to provide access.

Step 1: Verify That the Parcel is Truly Landlocked

It does not make sense to go to the trouble of trying to create an easement if you already have access. So, the first step is to verify that the parcel in question is really truly landlocked.

If the land is on an official paved or dirt road, then you probably have legal access and you do not need an easement. If the land is on a road or path that is unofficial, then you may or may not need an easement. You cannot tell with your eyes whether the existing road is official or whether there is a legally recorded easement. The road you see with your eyes could be unofficial and not an easement.

To get some information about whether you already have access, order a title report. Title companies make decisions about whether or not to insure for “marketable access” when deciding whether or not to insure title. In my experience, “marketable access” corresponds to what I will call “legal access” about 99% of the time. If the title company says that they will insure title and will also insure for access, you can be pretty sure you have legal access. If the title company says they will insure for title but will not insure for access, you can usually assume you have no legal access and your parcel is landlocked. So, the easiest way to determine whether or not a parcel is landlocked is to order a title report.

When the title company agrees to insure for title, but declines to insure for access, a phrase like “The lack of right of access to and from the land” will appear in the exceptions section of the title report. When this phrase does not appear, the title company is basically saying they will insure for both title and access.

Step 2: Gather Information on the History of Access

If the owner of a parcel for sale has already tried to get access from a neighbor, and failed, it’s important for you to know this. Maybe the seller has been feuding with his neighbor over access for years. This scenario would suggest that you, the buyer and future owner, are also likely to find the neighbor difficult to work with.

On the other hand, maybe the history offers good news. Suppose that the seller subdivided his 10 acres and sold 5 acres to his best friend from high school, kept the other 5 acres for himself, and just forgot to create an easement across his friend’s land in front to his land in back. That’s a totally different situation. Creating an easement in a case like this may be easy.

Understanding the history will help you, as a buyer, to get a sense of the likelihood that your efforts to negotiate an easement will be successful.

About 90% of the time you will discover that there is no history at all and the seller has never attempted to arrange an easement. This is because many people buy land as an investment, not to build. They have no reason to visit the land so never tried to create access. They bought it “as is” and they are selling it “as is”.

Ask about the seller’s history on trying to establish access. You never know when you might learn something helpful.

Step 3: Consider Who Will Create the Easement and When

Will the easement be created by the City? No. The County? No. The transportation authority? No. The Broker? No. The title company? No. The neighbor? No. The seller? Usually no.

So, who will create the easement? You, the buyer, that’s who. About 97% of the time, buyers of landlocked parcels must purchase the land the way it is, close escrow, own it, and then start working to create an easement after closing.

I find that about 2% of the time, the seller will entertain an offer with a contingency on the easement. This means that the buyer can try to arrange the easement during their contingency period (part of the escrow period). If the buyer is unsuccessful, the buyer can cancel escrow, get their deposit back, and walk away. If the buyer is successful, the buyer will close escrow. I say this happens 2% of the time because it is a rare seller who will entertain such a contingency. It can take months or a year or more to go through all the steps to create an easement and sellers typically want to close escrow in 21-45 days.

In unusual instances, like 1% of the time, the seller will actually agree to create the easement for the buyer prior to closing. Sellers may entertain this option when creating the easement is super-duper easy for them. An example of this situation is when the seller happens to own the adjacent parcel where the easement is needed. In that case, the seller of parcel A is also the neighbor and owner of parcel B, and can easily create an easement across parcel B, his own land. Another example is when the neighbor is a family member or close friend of the seller. A final example is when the seller has already negotiated access with the neighbor and just needs to put it in writing, get it signed, and record the easement with the county.

In my experience, buyers commonly want an easement before closing and sellers almost never agree to this. It’s just wishful thinking on the part of buyers. Generally, buyers will have to purchase the land and then roll up their sleeves, in that order.

Sometimes buyers who have not even submitted an offer on a parcel ask me for contact information for the neighbor. They think I can just give them the neighbor’s phone number or email and they will just contact the neighbor and say, “hey man, can I have an easement?” They’re hoping the neighbor will say “yeah, sure, no problem” and it will be easy. Dear buyers, that almost never works. First, I don’t have the neighbor’s phone number or email and the seller rarely has their contact information either. I do have access to title records but those show only the neighbor’s name and mailing address, not their phone number or email. Second, negotiating an easement takes more effort than a simple phone call. It can take months. So, a “hey man…” conversation is unlikely to be fruitful. Third, you don’t own the parcel yet and you’re not even in escrow, so you don’t really have authority to negotiate an easement. Fourth, generally more than one buyer will have this same idea and it’s not good for multiple buyers to be calling the same neighbor. So, buyers, I suggest that you put this idea out of your mind. Please understand that if you want to buy a landlocked parcel at a low price, you will have buy the land “as is” and work through the steps in this blog post to seek an easement after closing. Or don’t buy it. That’s the other option.

Step 4: Figure Out Where You Want the Easement

After buying the land, if you decide to move forward with seeking an easement from the neighbor(s), you will need to figure out which parcel(s) you want to cross. Get a map that shows your parcel and the neighbor’s parcel(s). This map might be a plat map or an aerial map.

Say you are surrounded by neighbors B, C and D. If you cross B you will reach the road. Alternatively, if you cross C you must also cross D, then you will reach the road. In the first case, you will need one easement. In the second case you will need two easements. So, figure out which direction it makes the most sense to go.

Also assess approximately where on the neighbor’s parcel(s) you want the easement. For example, is there a well-worn dirt path that you will try to follow? Do you want to travel along the boundary of a property? Is your desired easement straight or curved? How wide will it be? Ask the City/County what width they require in order to grant a building permit as that will dictate the width of the easement you will try to arrange.

Step 5: Get Contact Information for the Neighbor(s)

In order to request an easement from a neighbor, you will need the neighbor’s name and contact information. Their mailing address might not be the same as their physical address.

Vacant land sellers rarely have contact information for their neighbors. Remember, they’re selling land, not a house, so they don’t live there. However, your Realtor can look up the neighbor’s contact information in title records. In order for your Realtor to help you, you must give her the address or Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN), for the neighbor’s parcel(s) that you want to cross.

You can use the official plat map (not a Google map) to figure out the APNs. For example, if you are purchasing APN 1234-567-89 then the plat map will have an 89 in a circle corresponding to the parcel you want to buy. If you are planning to seek an easement across a parcel that has a 90 in a circle, the APN for that parcel will be 1234-567-90. Give your Realtor that APN and she can look up the name and mailing address for the owner of that parcel. In California and some parts of Oregon, agents have access to title records in Realist through the MLS.

Another way to find the neighbor’s contact information is to use a Geographic Information System (GIS). GIS systems are available free online. To find a GIS system for your area, Google “GIS <city name>” if the parcel is in the City. Google “GIS <county name>” if the parcel is in the County. Enter the neighbor’s APN into the GIS and see if their contact information pops up. Note that not all GIS systems have contact information for property owners – some do, some don’t. Also, if there is contact information it will be limited to names and addresses. There will be no phone number or email.

I have had some success finding phone numbers and emails just by using Google. This works best if the neighbor has a somewhat unusual name. Try it.

Step 6: Ask the Neighbor(s) for an Easement

Armed with the neighbor’s contact information, the next step is to get in touch with them. You can send the neighbor a letter, call, email, or try going in person. Or, if you prefer, you can have your attorney do any of these things.

Explain to the neighbor that you are seeking an easement. Be prepared to explain to them what an easement is. Reassure the neighbor that they will still own the land where the easement is located. You just want to cross it. Let them know that the easement “runs with the land” so it remains there in perpetuity and does not disappear if you sell or if your neighbor sells. Describe where you want the easement to be located. State how wide it will be. Discuss who will improve and maintain the easement.

If the neighbor objects, offer to pay them for it. How much should you offer? It depends on the value of the land…$500, $5000, $50,000. I don’t know. It’s negotiable.

When considering what you are willing to pay for an easement, you might factor these things in to your thought process:

An easement will greatly improve the value of your land. This is because parcels with recorded legal access sell for much more than parcels with no access. I would estimate that easements improve the value of land by 10-1000%. Ask your Realtor to estimate how much an easement might increase the value of your specific parcel.
The alternative to paying the neighbor for the easement is probably going to court to resolve the conflict. Attorney fees are expensive, $200-$500/hour. In comparison to paying attorney fees, paying the neighbor for the easement might feel like a bargain.
By burdening your neighbor’s parcel with an easement, you might be reducing the value of their parcel. It’s only fair to pay him enough to compensate him for any loss in value that he might incur.

If the neighbor agrees to offer an easement, go to step 7 and consider skipping step 8. If the neighbor doesn’t agree to offer an easement, go to step 8.

Step 7: Hire a Surveyor

Easements should be recorded with the county. In order to record an easement, you and the neighbor must sign an agreement. That agreement must specify the precise location of the easement.

The description of the location of the easement cannot be casual like “along the existing path on the west side of John’s land at 1234 Main St”. A proper legal description is often complicated and looks more like this:

An easement and right of way for road, sewer, water, gas, power and telephone lines and appurtenances thereto under, along and across a 60.00 foot strip of land lying within Section 10 and 11 all in Township 9 South, Range 2 West, San Bernardino Meridian, in the County of San Diego. State of California, according to United States Government Survey, the centerline of said 60.00 foot strip being described as follows: Beginning at the Northwest corner of the Northeast Quarter of said Section 11; thence along the Northerly line of said Northeast Quarter, South 86° 05’ 24” East 577.98 feet to the True Point of Beginning; leaving said Northerly line, South 5° 37’ 14” East 310.00 feet; thence South 04° 36’32’ East 164.03 feet to the beginning of a tangent 300.00 foot radius curve, concave Westerly; thence Southerly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 27° 07’ 51” a distance of 142.06 feet thence South 22° 31‘19” West 133.34 feet to the beginning of a tangent 100.00 foot radius curve, concave Northwesterly; thence Southwesterly along the arc of said curve through a central angle of 60° 02’ 43” a distance of 104.80 feet thence South 82° 34’ 02” West 174.36 feet to the beginning of a tangent 400.00 foot radius curve concave Southerly; thence Westerly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 13° 33’ 30” a distance of 94.66 feet; thence South 69° 00’ 32” West 115.77 feet to an intersection with the Westerly line of the Northeast Quarter of Section 11, Township 9 South, Range 2 West, distant thereon South 05°54’22” East 926.55 feet from the Northwest corner of the Northeast Quarter of said Section 11; thence along the Westerly line of said Northeast Quarter, South 05° 54’ 22” East 397.68 feet to the Southeast corner of the Northeast Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of said Section 11 South 05° 22’ 54” East 13.10 feet; thence South 30° 35’ 51” West 281.12 feet to the beginning of a tangent 180.00 foot radius curve, concave Easterly; thence Southerly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 29° 17’ 17” a distance of 92.01 feet thence South 01° 18’ 34” West 264.21 feet; thence North 88°41’26” West 30.00 feet; thence South 13°19’28” West 66.15 feet of the beginning of a tangent 100.00 foot radius curve, concave Northwesterly; thence Southwesterly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 70°31’28” a distance of 123.09 feet; thence South 83°50’56” West 43.41 feet to the beginning of a tangent 200.00 foot radius curve, concave Northeasterly, thence Northwesterly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 47° 02’ 06” a distance of 164.18 feet thence North 49° 06’ 58” West 117.28 feet to the beginning of a tangent 50.00 foot radius curve, concave Southerly thence Westerly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 77° 08’ 23” a distance of 67.32 feet; thence South 53° 44’39” West 59.15 feet to the beginning of a tangent 150.00 foot radius curve, concave Southeasterly; thence Southwesterly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 28°58’14” a distance of 75.85 feet; thence South 24° 46’ 25” West 609.78 feet to an intersection with the Southerly line of the Northwest Quarter of said Section 11; thence along said Southerly line, North 87° 41‘ 25” West 61.94 feet to the Southeast corner of the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of said Section 11; thence along the Southerly line of said Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter, North 87° 41’ 25” West 193.45 feet to the beginning of a tangent 50.00 foot radius curve, concave Southeasterly, thence Southwesterly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 57° 08’ l0” a distance of 49.86 feet; thence South 35° 10’ 25” West 169.73 feet to the beginning of a tangent 100.00 foot radius curve, concave Northwesterly; thence Southwesterly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 36° 19’ 10” a distance of 98.30 feet thence North 88° 30’ 25” West 31.23 feet to the beginning of a tangent 150.00 foot radius curve, concave Northeasterly; thence Northwesterly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 42°51 ‘10” a distance of 112.19 feet; thence North 45° 39’ l5” West 138.04 feet to the beginning of a tangent 189.53 foot radius curve, concave Northeasterly; thence Northwesterly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 29° 27’ 20” a distance of 97.44 feet to an intersection with the Southerly line of the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of said Section 11; thence North 16° 11‘ 55” West 482.67 feet to the beginning of a tangent 500.00 foot radius curve, concave Southwesterly; thence Northwesterly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 12° 50’ 50” a distance of 112.11 feet; thence North 29°02’45” West 376.18 feet to the beginning of a tangent 300.00 foot radius curve, concave Southwesterly; thence Northwesterly along the arc of said curve, through a central angle of 22° 07’ 00” a distance of 115.80 feet; thence North 51° 09’ 45” West 168.16 feet to an intersection with the Westerly line of said Section 11 distant thereon South 03° 25’ 35” East 194.19 feet from the Southwest corner of the Northwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter of said Section 11; thence continuing along the last described course North 51° 09’ 45” West 122.20 feet; thence North 14° 09’ 45” West to an intersection with the Southerly line of the Northeast Quarter of the Northeast Quarter of Section 10, Township 9 South, Range 2 West.

As you can see, you will need to hire a surveyor to write a proper legal description of the location of the easement. The surveyor will also prepare documents for you and your neighbor to sign. After you sign, go to the county and record the easement.

Step 8: Hire an Attorney

If the neighbor refuses to allow an easement, hire an attorney. You might also consider hiring an attorney long before this stage to help you with steps 1-7.

Choose an attorney who specializes in real estate. To find one, Google the American Bar Association for the county where the land is located. Call and ask for a referral to a local real estate attorney.

Your attorney will help you negotiate with the neighbor. They can also draft your agreement with the neighbor regarding things like who is responsible for the maintenance and improvement of the easement.

If the neighbor is uncooperative, your lawyer can advise you on whether the specific circumstances of your situation mean that you have a legal right to an easement. Then your attorney can make this case in court, if necessary.

Alternative Approaches

You might be wondering if there are things you can do to address the lack of access without seeking an easement and without the expense of hiring an attorney. Here are some possibilities:

Offer to buy the neighbor’s property outright. Once you own it you will have the control and can create an easement on your own land!
Offer to buy a portion of the neighbor’s property, enough to get you to a road. This would require subdividing the parcel or a lot-line adjustment. Sometimes the city/county will allow this and sometimes they won’t. Before suggesting this to the neighbor, check with the Planning office to see if it’s allowed.
Ask the neighbor’s family member to convince the neighbor to give you an easement. This has worked for me.
If you’re not vibing with the neighbor for personality reasons, ask your spouse, significant other, family member, friend, or attorney to negotiate on your behalf. They may have better luck.
Offer something of value to the neighbor. Examples include: a) more money than you originally offered, b) “first right of refusal” so that he can be first in line if you ever sell your land in the future, c) a gate/road that you will install at your expense, d) fencing between your properties that you will install at your expense, or e) that chain saw he keeps borrowing, etc. You get the idea. This is the “carrot” approach.
Explain to the neighbor what your next steps will be if he declines the easement, e.g., you will hire an attorney so he will probably have to hire an attorney. This will cost him money and there will be a long drawn out court fight, etc. This is the “stick” approach and not recommended unless you’re ready to burn all other bridges.
Offer to pay for a professional mediator to assist both parties in negotiating the easement.
Offer to sell your property to the neighbor. This will not achieve your goal of getting an easement, but it will get you out of the situation.
Wait for the neighbor to sell their property or pass their property on to their heirs. Statistically, houses turn over on average every 7 years. Maybe the next owner will be more accommodating.
Wait for the neighbor to put their property on the market for sale. List your land at the same time, possibly with the same Realtor. If the buyer purchases both properties, they’re not going to be too concerned about your lack of access because they will own the neighboring land.
Ask the neighbor for a “personal permission” to cross. This is different from an “easement”. It applies only to you personally (and possible your family, guests etc.) and does not “run with the land”. This means that when you transfer the property, or the neighbor transfers his property, the permission will disappear. It will not allow you to build and will not increase the value of your property when you sell it, but it will allow you to put your feet on your land for now.
Sell your land on the open market in its current landlocked state for whatever price you can get for it. Be sure to disclose the lack of access to the next buyer.
Try getting an easement in a different direction, across a different neighbor’s land, if possible.

Conclusion

Buyers purchase landlocked parcels every day. It is very common because parcels that lack access are offered at a bargain price. By studying this basic outline of the steps that would have to be followed to create an easement, buyers who are unfamiliar with the process can assess whether or not buying a landlocked parcel is something that makes sense for them.

Due diligence when purchasing vacant land: buyer’s frequently asked questions

October 29, 2018 by Tammy Tengs

What is Due Diligence?

Due diligence means taking precautions and doing your homework on property before you make the purchase. If you find too many issues with the property — too much potential risk or cost — then you can look for a better parcel of land.

Who is Responsible for Due Diligence?

Vacant land buyers are responsible for conducting their own independent due diligence on any parcel they are considering purchasing.

Won’t the Seller or Agent Just Tell Me Everything I Need to Know About Land?

The answer is no. The seller and agent do not know everything about the land that might interest you.

Further, while sellers and agents have the legal responsibility is to disclose material facts that they are aware of it is not possible for them to disclose facts that they are not aware of.

The seller will complete disclosure forms where they write down everything that they know about the land that they consider a “material fact”. The agent will provide a copy to you. If the seller has relevant documents in their file such as a well report or survey, they will provide those too. In California, but not in other states, the seller will also provide a natural hazard report. This is a report produced by a company such as Property ID or PDQ who charge a small fee, under $100. The report discloses things such as whether the land is in an earthquake fault zone, a flood area, or a location prone to wildfires. The agent will tell you what they know about the land. The title company will provide a report so that you will know if title is clear. Upon request, the title company can also provide a map of plotted easements.

That’s it! That’s all you get!

The information provided by the seller, agents and title company will usually not address everything that you might want to know about the land and may not be sufficient for you to decide whether or not you want to buy the land. The agent and seller will tell you what they already know, but beyond that it is your responsibility to do whatever additional research is needed.

For example, if the corners are unmarked, it is not the seller’s responsibility to mark the corners of the land unless you explicitly wrote a survey into your offer and the seller agreed to do it. It is not your Realtor’s responsibility to perform detailed research on building requirements. It is not the title company’s responsibility to plot easements on adjacent land unless you explicitly ask them to do that.

Dear buyer, you must do your own independent due diligence.

Won’t My Agent Do All This Research For Me?

You agent’s role is to help you by advising you on where to get the information you need as you move down the path of doing your own independent due diligence.

A key point here is that your agent, who has your back, knows that it is in your best interest for you to do your own due diligence. The information you will receive will be more accurate and helpful if you get it straight from the information-provider, not filtered through a Realtor as an intermediary.

Did you ever play the telephone game as a child? Here’s how the game goes: One child whispers a word or phrase to another child. That kid whispers it to the next kid, and so on. At the end of the chain, the last child says the word aloud. It’s funny to see how convoluted the word or phrase becomes.

Don’t play the “telephone game” with your Realtor in the middle. Eliminate the middle-man. Go straight to the electric company, water company, planning office, etc. and let them put the information directly in your ear!

Another benefit of talking to information-providers directly is that you can have an entire conversation with that person. You can ask additional follow-up questions if you need to. You may even learn things “you didn’t know you didn’t know”. For example, when you’re talking to the water company, they may say that yes, district water is available, but sewer is not. Wow, you might think. That was something that didn’t even occur to you to ask because you were assuming that water and sewer always go together! Or, when you’re meeting with the county Planner to discuss the allowability of a mother-in-law apartment next to the house you are planning on 5 acres, you might discover that the zoning allows you to subdivide and build two houses on two separate 2.5-acre parcels. Wow, that’s awesome, you didn’t know that and it would be a better fit for your family! One question will lead to other questions which will lead to more answers and more insight and the entire conversation will be very helpful to you.

Your Realtor knows that it is in your best interest for you to get information “straight from the horse’s mouth”. That’s why they are telling you to “go direct” to each information-provider get your questions answered.

What if I Don’t Want to Do My Own Due Diligence?

Um, then maybe now is not the right time to be buying land?

Of course, you do have the option of buying land without conducting a thorough evaluation. In rare instances this can make sense. For example, if the land is a $5000, one-acre parcel, in the middle of the desert, and you can see in aerial maps that there are no houses nearby and you’re pretty sure there are no utilities there, and you’re just buying it for investment, not to build, then doing extensive research may not be essential.

When Should I Do My Due Diligence?

Do as much research as you can before even submitting an offer. That way, if you get bad news, you can avoid the time and effort it takes to submit an offer and negotiate with the seller. Plus, you can avoid sending a deposit to escrow.

Another advantage of doing your research before submitting an offer is that if you find something negative, and you want the land anyway, you can use it to negotiate a good price. For example, you can say “Hey seller, I see that your land is priced at $100,000, but I found out that it is in a flood zone and will be more expensive to build, so will you take $80,000?” That kind of thing.

With houses it is common to go into escrow, get an inspection, and then negotiate the price down or get the seller to make repairs. That tactic is exceedingly rare with vacant land and will not be well-received by the seller or listing agent, so I recommend that you not try it, or you might get kicked to the curb. However, it is common and acceptable to negotiate price at the time your offer is submitted so feel free to any use negative information that you find to your advantage up front.

Also, include a contingency period in your offer so that you can continue your research during the escrow period. The clock on your contingency period starts ticking “upon acceptance” which means the date that the last signature appears on the contract. So, for example, if your offer was accepted by the seller on January 1 and you have a 17-day contingency period inside a 30-day escrow period, that means that you will want to complete all due diligence by January 18^th.

At the end of the contingency period the Realtor will ask you to “remove your contingencies”. After you remove your contingencies, your deposit is non-refundable. So, for this reason, you will want to be sure to finish all research prior to the end of your due diligence period. This period usually ends well in advance of the escrow closing date, so don’t get those two dates confused.

In What Situations Would It Be Especially Dumb to Skip My Due Diligence?

It’s especially unwise to skip due diligence when: 1) The parcel is expensive, 2) the price is so low it seems “too good to be true”, 3) you want to build on the land, 4) you have a particular use in mind for the land and don’t know if that use is allowed, or 5) you’re not familiar with the area.

What Due Diligence Can I Do at Home in My Pajamas?

Fortunately, a lot of research can be done from the comfort of your sofa!

You can review zoning descriptions on the city/county Planning Department website. You can also get tons of interesting information from the city/county Geographic Information System (GIS). You can email the city/county Planner to ask questions (this works best when the county is small). You can study Google or Bing aerial maps to get a sense of boundaries. You can review the title report, seller’s disclosures, and the natural hazard report that your agent or escrow officer will give you during the escrow period. You can search Google to learn about crime statistics in the area.

You can phone the electric company, water district, local well drillers, and septic providers. You can also try phoning the City or County Planning department to ask questions.

What Due Diligence Would Require Me to Drive Somewhere?

Make sure you go see the land in person. If you can’t do that, e.g., because you’re in another state, hire a service like We Go Look to take additional photos or video.

If the land is in a big city or county, it may be hard to reach someone in the Planning Department by phone or email. In that case, you will have to get in your car and go speak to the Planner in person. Just walk in. Usually no appointment is needed.

What Due Diligence Will Cost Me Money?

Most of it is free. However, if you want to do any of the following, you will have to pay for it:

Order a perc test for septic
Hire a well driller to inspect the well
Have a surveyor mark the corners so that you can understand boundaries
Order a phase I environmental review (needed only in rare instances, e.g., when buying an abandoned gas station);
Hire an engineer to investigate developing the land
Ask a contractor to advise you on whether a parcel is buildable

What Information Do I Need to Have at My Fingertips Before Starting My Research?

Get out a piece of paper. Write down the assessor’s parcel number (APN), also called the tax id number. If there is an actual address, write that down as well. If there is no address (common for vacant land) write down the street the parcel is on plus the nearest cross street. Find out if the parcel is inside city limits or outside city limits so in the county. If it’s in the city, write down the name of the city. If not in an incorporated city, write down the name of the county. If there is a Homeowners Association (HOA), write down the name of the HOA. If you know the name(s) of the current legal owners, write those down as well.

Now you have all the information you will need at your fingertips to identify the parcel to the information-providers that you will speak to. You can start making those calls!

How Do I Even Know If There are Building Restrictions on the Land?

If it’s dirt, there are building restrictions! In other words, every parcel of land has building restrictions:

Restrictions may be imposed by the City
Restrictions may be imposed by the County
Restrictions may be imposed by the Homeowner’s Association
Restrictions may be imposed by other entities such as the Coastal Commission or Historic District

Who Governs Building Restrictions on the Land?

I answered that in a previous blog post here.

How Can I find Out if Electric or Water Meters Are Already Installed?

The chance that there are meters already installed on vacant land is virtually zero.

The only situation in which I have ever seen an electric meter was in a rural area on land used to park a recreational vehicle (RV) or trailer that someone was staying in.

On vacant, land, I find water meters less than 1% of the time. If there is a water meter, it could be installed, or it could be paid for but not yet installed and “on the shelf” at the water company. To find out, you can call the water company and ask if there is a paid meter.

Your question should really be about how close utilities are to the land and what the cost of getting utilities might be. Read on.

How Can I Research the Availability of Electricity?

Get in your car and drive to the land. Look for the nearest electric wires and poles. Plot their location on a map.

Find out the name of the electric company that covers that area. To do that, Google this: Electric Company <city or county name>.

Phone the electric company and give them the parcel number (APN), address, or whatever they ask for. Inquire about the availability and cost of electricity.

How Can I Research Water?

To find out if district water is available, look around the neighborhood for water meter covers. Also look for fire hydrants. These offer evidence that district water may be available in the street.

If you don’t see evidence of district water, then start looking for evidence of wells. Walk around the land and look for a large round pipe poking up out of the ground. It could be a capped well. From the street, look at the neighbor’s properties to see if you see tiny buildings that could be well houses. Or just ask a neighbor if they have a well.

Based on your preliminary in-person research, if you think there’s district water you will want to phone the water company to ask more questions.

To find out the name of the water company, Google this: Water Company <city or county name>. Phone the water company and give them the parcel number (APN) and/or address, or whatever they ask for. Inquire about the availability of water and the cost of a water meter.

If the neighbors seem to be using wells and there is no well on the land, phone a local well driller to learn more. To find a local well driller Google this: Well driller <city or county name>. When you talk to the driller, or his staff, describe the general location of the land and ask questions about the viability of wells in that area, depth that may be needed, cost, etc. Well drillers are reluctant to offer estimates of depth and cost over the phone because every parcel is different. If they express reluctance, ask for a range or a general sense.

How Can I Research Sewer/Septic?

Just because water is available, this does not mean that sewer is also available. So, when talking to the water company, be sure to ask if sewer is also available in that area.

If sewer is not available, a septic system will be needed for waste. It is very very rare for a septic system to already be installed on vacant land. The only time I have seen that is when there was a house there previously that was demolished or burned down.

You will want to figure out if the land can support a septic system because not all land can do that. To find out if a septic system is viable on your land, a percolation test or “perc test” is needed. Sometimes you will see “perc” spelled “perk”.

To get a rough sense of septic viability without performing an expensive perc test, you can ask neighbors if they had any trouble perc’ing for septic. You can contact a local septic installer to ask if he has ever had a home in this area not perc. Finally, you can visit the county and find out if there is an historic perc test already on file. If a successful perc test has been recorded, ask the County if the test would have to be updated due to age. Also check to see if a failed perc test might have been recorded.

You might want to arrange your own perc test. If you plan to do this, be sure to write your intent into your offer to get the seller’s approval. This is because it involves digging big holes in the ground and you need seller permission to do that. Before submitting an offer to the seller, ask a septic professional how long the perc test will take and what their schedule is. Include the amount of time you need for the perc test in your offer and make your offer contingent on a successful perc test. For example, if the septic professional says it will take 4 weeks to do a perc test then include a 30 day contingency period in your offer.

How Can I Research Zoning?

The first step in researching zoning is to figure out whether a parcel is in the city or the county. This will dictate which Planning Office you go to for zoning information.

Start your zoning research online. Instead of going to the city or county website and poking around there to find the right department, it is faster to just search Google like this: Zoning <city or county name>. The zoning section of the official city or county website should pop up.

If it’s a common city or county name, be sure to also specify the state in your Google search. This is because you don’t want to end up spending an hour looking at a zoning website for Portland Maine when you thought you were looking at the site for Portland Oregon.

To find a zoning map fast, go to Google and type: Zoning map <city or county name>. Sometimes, searching Google Images rather than just basic Google is a more direct way to find a map. This is because a map, after all, is an image.

Another really good way to research zoning is to use one of the free Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provided by most counties and cities. You can enter the parcel number or address into those systems and uncover a wealth of information, including helpful maps and zoning. To find a GIS system for your land search Google like this: GIS <city or county name>. When searching a GIS system using the assessor’s parcel number (APN), a helpful tip is to omit the dashes. For example, do not enter APN 1234-567-89. Instead, enter 123456789. If that doesn’t work try adding zeros at the end, e.g., 1234567890000.

A final way to figure out the zoning is to just to ask the Planning office. Email, call or go in person. Give them the APN. I find that if it’s a small office they will usually be happy to respond to my email requests for information. If they are a large busy office, it will be almost impossible to get an answer by email or phone. In that case, you will have to go in person.

One last tip is to be sure to research both “zoning” and “land use”. They might conflict.

How Can I Research Building Requirements?

If you’re interested in building, the first step is to research zoning to see what kind of structure is allowed, if any. For example, if the zoning allows only single-family homes, then you cannot build a commercial office. Then, get in your car and drive to the City or County offices to learn what you can about building restrictions. If you still have questions, pay a licensed contractor a consulting fee to assist you. Remember, your Realtor is an expert in real estate sales, not building.

How Can I Research Property Boundaries?

Walk around the land near where you think the corners might be. Look in the dirt for markers. Markers might be anything. They could be vertical white PVC pipe, wood sticks poking up out of the ground, unusual piles of rocks, florescent pink tape hanging from a tree, or the remnants of fence or old wood post. Just look for something unusual that looks like it was put there by a human and not by mother nature. Note, however, that humans make mistakes so any corner markers you find may not be accurate.

If you really want the corners marked accurately, hire a surveyor. To find one, go to Google and type in: Surveyor <city or county name>.

How Can I Research Easements on the Land?

Any easements recorded on the land that you are buying will restrict the ways you can use it. One example is a utility easement (no you can’t build your garage under those tall utility wires). Another example is a conservation easement which often blankets the whole parcel, restricting building everywhere on the land (yikes!). If there are easements, they will almost always be mentioned in the title report that will be provided during the escrow period. However, in the title report their location will be described in some gobbledygook way, so if you see easements mentioned, ask the title company for a map of plotted easements so that you can see just where they are.

How Can I Research Access?

Remember, there’s physical access and legal access and they’re not necessarily the same thing.

To research physical access, study aerial maps or get in your car and see if you can drive to the land.

To research legal access, the easiest way is to just order a title report. If the title company says they will insure for title and access, there’s a good chance that there is legal access. If the title company says they will insure title, but will not insure specifically for access, that’s usually because there is no legal access.

Note that easements on the land are different than easements used to access the land. The former will be recorded on the land you are buying while the latter will be recorded on the neighbor’s parcel. Easements recorded on the neighbor’s parcel for ingress/egress to your parcel will not appear in the title report for the parcel you are buying. So, you will want to explicitly ask the title company to research those easements on the neighboring parcel. If the title company discovers an easement to reach the land, ask the title company for a map of plotted easements showing the ingress/egress route.

How Can I Research Environmental Problems or Endangered Species?

If you have concerns about possible environmental pollution you can pay an environmental firm to do a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment. Generally, this is only needed if you are purchasing something like an abandoned gas station, junk yard, auto repair site, or if you see evidence of pollution such as leaking oil drums:

To find a local firm that does environmental assessments, Google: Phase I Environmental <city or county name>.

How Can I Research Neighbors?

Get a crime statistics report for the City or County. To do this, Google: Crime Statistics <city or county name>. You can also research predators living near the land at the Sex Offender Registry.

However, don’t get freaked out thinking that the land is in a bad area because you find a certain number of burglaries and pedophiles. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but virtually every neighborhood has crime. The best way to realize that is to research the neighborhood you are living in now and you will see what I mean. Evil-doers are everywhere! Bleh!

Another way to research neighbors is to stop and talk to them. Say “hi” to the guy bringing in his groceries or the lady working on her car in the driveway. See if they’re the kind of people you want to have as neighbors.

How Can I Research Local Amenities?

In Google Maps locate the property you are buying. Then click on “nearby”. Several options will pop up such as Restaurants nearby, Hotels nearby, Bars and pubs nearby, etc. Choose one of those or type in what you’re interested in, e.g., grocery stores, hospitals, schools, etc. Google will map them for you.

How Can I Research Climate?

One of my favorite places to research climate is BestPlaces. I like to compare two cities.

What pops up is helpful information for two cities on climate, crime, economy, housing, health, education, people, transportation, religion, voting, jobs, etc.

How Can I Research Real Estate or Rental Prices?

Search Zillow or ApartmentList.

How Can I Research Whether Title is Clean?

During the escrow period, the escrow officer will order a title report. You can review that. The title company will not insure the title unless it is “clean”. So, if they say they will insure, that’s your best indicator of clean title.

If there are blemishes on the title report, the seller will often be able to correct those during the escrow period. So if the preliminary title report is not clear, don’t assume that’s the end of it. Wait to see what the final title report shows after the seller and escrow officer have worked to address any questionable items. As one example, if there is a judgment or lien in the report, the seller can pay that off making it disappear from the title report.

How Can I Avoid Making A Mistake on My Due Diligence?

One way to avoid error is to sit down with your Realtor and develop a list of all the issues that you as a buyer will need to research. That way you won’t forget anything. Another way to minimize error is to get all critical information directly from various information-providers, not second hand from Realtors or sellers. A final way to reduce error is by practicing redundancy: Get the same question answered in multiple different ways, or by several different people. For example, if you are trying to figure out if the land is likely to perc for septic you can: 1) ask a neighbor if they had any trouble with their perc test, 2) check with the county to see if an historic perc test is already a matter of public record, 3) call a local septic installer to ask about the viability of septic in that area, and/or, 4) pay for an actual perc test. That is, do several of these things, not just one.

Story time: One time I phoned a county planning office to ask about the zoning for a parcel I was selling. The planner I spoke to said it was zoned commercial. A few days later I called again to get some clarification on what commercial uses were allowed. I spoke to a different planner. That planner said it was actually zoned residential. So, I went to the planning office in person. The third planner walked me over to a large zoning map hanging on the wall. That map showed that it was zoned commercial along the street and residential in the back. That made sense and I could see from the map that it was the correct answer. Finally! Making several phone calls AND going in person AND looking at maps was the key to getting the right information at the end of the day. Redundancy rules!

What if I Mess Up on My Due Diligence?

One time I was selling a piece of land and the buyer didn’t do any due diligence prior to purchase. He then asked to “rescind” a sale after closing escrow.

Um, that’s a “no”.

There is no way to rescind a sale after escrow has closed and a change of ownership has been recorded with the county. Buying real estate is not like shopping in a retail store. You can’t just walk up the return counter with a copy of your receipt and get your money back.

With that said, if, after purchasing land, you decide that you don’t want to own it for any reason, you can always resell it. Just be sure to disclose to the next buyer all material facts, especially negative facts that you may have discovered, as required by law.

It’s All Very Overwhelming. What Strategies Will Make it Easier?

Well, remember all you’re trying to do now is decide if you want to buy the land or not. You’re not going to be building a house next week – that’s in the future. So, focus in on just the mission-critical items, i.e., the things that really affect whether or not you even want to buy the land to begin with.

If you ponder it, you will realize that some things are not mission-critical. For example, do you really need to hire a surveyor to market the exact-exact-exact corners on that 40-acre piece or will studying an aerial map do for now? I mean, if you were to discover that the property line is 10 feet from where you thought it was, would that really affect your decision to purchase? If so, hire a surveyor. If not, it can wait until after you buy the land.

Or if you’re buying an infill lot in a densely populated neighborhood, and you observe a fire hydrant at the nearest intersection, and the neighbor on the left has water, and the neighbor on the right has water, do you really need to research the cost of a water meter right now? After verifying that there is no moratorium on issuing new water meters in that area, you might just put that item on the back burner until you’re ready to build. All you’re trying to do right now is figure out if there are any bad-news-deal-breakers when it comes to purchasing the land. The rest can be put off ‘till later.

If you will think along these lines you might be able to temporarily cross some things off your To Do list and tackle them after you buy the land. For now, focus on the things that affect your decision to buy or not buy.

Summary

When buying land, yes, you truly do have to do your own independent due diligence. Further, there is no “one stop shopping” for all of the information that you might need. No single person will provide all of the answers for you: not the seller, not the Realtor, not the escrow officer, and not the title company. Savvy land buyers will want to make a list, roll up their sleeves, and gather separate pieces of information directly from various information-providers before purchasing a parcel of land.

How to tell if a parcel is landlocked

March 4, 2018 by Tammy Tengs

When evaluating the attractiveness of a piece of land, one important feature is whether or not it has access. Is it possible to legally drive to the land and put your feet on it? Or, as buyers have asked me a thousand times “would you have to take a helicopter to get to it?”

Many cities and counties will not allow construction on a parcel that lacks access. Also, lenders may refuse to write loans to purchase, or build on, landlocked property. Landlocked parcels have less value compared to parcels with access. For this reason, sellers will want to determine if a parcel is landlocked when pricing it and buyers want to understand the access situation when deciding whether or not to purchase it.

First, Just What is Access?

The most important thing to know about access is that there are two kinds: physical access and legal access. They are two different things. The fact that you can see a dirt road with your eyes does not mean that you have legal access. Further, even when legal access exists, there might be no visible road.

When a parcel has physical access, it is possible to drive in a car (or maybe a 4WD) on a paved or dirt road to reach the edge of the land.

When a parcel has legal access, this means that it is adjacent to an official street or there is a recorded easement across the neighbor’s private land for ingress and egress.

A parcel might have physical access but no legal access. That is, you can drive to the land on a “road” but the road is unofficial, and you are technically trespassing on private property when you do that.

A parcel might have legal access but no physical access. This occurs when there is a recorded easement for ingress and egress, but no one has put in a driveway or road yet. The access is on paper but not visible in the real world.

A parcel might have both physical and legal access. For example, the home you are living in almost certainly has both.

A parcel might have no physical access and no legal access. This means there is no visible road to the property and there is no recorded easement allowing access.

What is a Landlocked Parcel?

When I describe access to buyers, I use the word “landlocked” to mean a parcel has no legal access for ingress and egress. I focus on legal access rather than physical access because I consider it more important. If the terrain allows, you can always bulldoze a road, if you have legal access, that is.

Note that other Realtors and attorneys might use the word “landlocked” differently. This variation in usage makes understanding access confusing for buyers and sellers.

My Super Practical Approach to Evaluating Access

I am a Realtor, a land broker, not an attorney. Realtors are in the business of helping people buy and sell real property, such as land. Realtors are not in the business of giving legal advice about whether a client would have a good case in court if they wanted to obtain access to a landlocked parcel. I mention this because it’s important for you, as a reader, to consider who is writing any blog you read. My role as a Realtor affects how I think and communicate about access.

In my many years as a land broker, I have noticed that there are two main access-related things that affect a buyer’s willingness to purchase land: 1) whether there is a physical road going to the property, and 2) whether the title company will insure for access. Regarding the former, it doesn’t matter that much whether it is a paved road or a dirt road. As long as a buyer can drive on it to reach the land, it’s all good. Regarding the latter, buyers tend to be black and white in their thinking: Either the title company, a trusted information source, says they will not insure for access, or the title company says they will insure for access. If the title company says “no access”, buyers will inevitably fret about this. Then, either they will not purchase the land, or it will affect the price they will pay.

Sometimes when a title company says they will not insure for access, sellers will then make nuanced arguments about how they have a right to an “easement by implication” or an “easement by necessity”. Sometimes sellers will say they have an unrecorded “prescriptive easement”. For example, the California Association of Realtors defines a prescriptive easement as “created when the property owner claiming the easement can prove that he/she used the servient estate owner’s property openly, exclusively, adversely, and continuously for a period of at least five years.”

These arguments are all well and good, but sellers need to realize that a typical buyer will not be too impressed with such reasoning when a title company is telling them they won’t insure for access. When an easement is not recorded, the buyer has no assurance that the neighbor won’t dispute whether the easement exists, where it exists, how big it is, or how it is to be used. Seller arguments are just words, and words will not prevent a neighbor from building a garage or putting up a locked gate, blocking access and creating conflict. Even if the current neighbor is friendly and allows unrecorded access, buyers realize that the adjacent property could change hands to an unfriendly neighbor who will not allow access. Buyers understand that in the event that there is a dispute with a neighbor, they will probably have to hire an attorney. Attorneys are expensive, and the outcome of legal action is uncertain. Since there are other parcels buyers can purchase in the same area that have easy access, buyers generally decide they just don’t want the land bad enough to mess around with it. In short, Buyers who are paying a premium for the land, want to see either a road or a recorded easement on paper and a title report saying the title company will insure for access.

With that said, the good news for sellers is that landlocked parcels can totally be sold at some price. The reason I mention buyer’s black and white thinking about access is because a wise seller will want to take buyer’s attitudes into account when they price their land: If the title company will insure for access, price it higher. If the title company won’t insure for access, price it lower. Land sellers should adhere to these simple rules because buyers will instinctively follow them in making a decision whether or not to purchase. Logically, buyer demand should affect seller pricing.

So, this explains why I, as a Realtor, not an attorney, use the expression “legal access” in a highly simplistic fashion, to mean having a road or a recorded easement, and “landlocked” as having “no legal access”. When I use words in this way, I’m talking right now, not what could be arranged in the future after a legal battle. Realtors sell land “as is, where is”.

If you own a landlocked parcel and want to know whether you would have the legal right to obtain access in the future, that’s a different question and Realtors can’t get into the weeds with you on that. Direct those questions to an attorney.

Things You Can Do to Tell if a Parcel is Landlocked

Study the Plat Map

The plat map shows how a tract of land is divided into lots. It is drawn to scale and shows the land’s size, boundaries, nearby streets and rights of way. Locate the parcel on the map. Does it have a street running to it or alongside of it? If so, there is probably legal access.

Note that I am recommending that you study a plat map, not an aerial map or Google map. Aerial maps may show you physical access, e.g., a dirt trail leading to the land. However, as explained previously, that physical access may or may not be legal access. Google maps show named streets but, occasionally, a street named in Google will not be an official street. For these reasons, the map you want to focus on is the black and white plat map.

Order a Title Report

When I am in doubt about access, I find that the easiest way to get information is to order a title report. If there is legal access, the title company will almost always insure for access. If there is no legal access, they will not insure for access.

If the title company declines to insure for access there will be an item in the “exceptions” section of the title report that says something like “Lack of right of access to and from the land”. There, you have your answer.

If the title company decides they will insure for access, this item will be entirely absent from the title report. The title report will just remain silent on the subject and there will be no mention of access in the exceptions section. For example, if the parcel is clearly on a paved street the title company will insure for access but there will be no special paragraph saying, “we will insure for access because it’s on an official street”. To summarize, a report mentioning no access is bad news while a report saying nothing about access is good news.

Note that title companies sometimes make mistakes. There have been times that I was pretty sure there was legal access and the title company has declined to insure for access. Conversely, there have been times when I was fairly sure there was no access and the title company has indicated that they would insure for access. If this happens to you, point out the possible error to the title company. For example, if you observed a physical road and they are saying they won’t insure for access, send the title company photos of the road and ask them to reconsider the access question.

Order a Map of Plotted Easements

Easements are described in title reports. However, sometimes it’s hard to visualize their location. So, ask the title company to prepare a map of plotted easements. These helpful maps are usually color coded. Here is an example:

Not all easements are for access. Further, an easement recorded on the parcel will not help you in getting to it. So when ordering a map of plotted easements, be sure to tell the title company that you want them to plot not only the easements on the property, but also easements leading to it. Tell them that your goal is to understand access. The reason it’s important to specify this is that the access easement will be recorded on the neighbor’s land, not the land for sale, and the title company might overlook it if you don’t explicitly ask to see it.

More Things to be Aware of When Evaluating Access

A road is not always a road

Realtors often mention “roads” in their marketing. For example, they might write in the MLS something like “turn off of Hwy 101 onto the dirt road going the land.” It would be a mistake for buyers to assume that this dirt “road” is an official road, sanctioned by the city or county, and that the parcel has legal access. Sometimes this will be the case. Sometimes it won’t. In all likelihood, the Realtor observed a physical access road and has not checked to see if it is a legal access road, a recorded easement, or just a well-worn dirt path crossing private property. Realtors are usually just describing what they see with their eyes. Smart buyers will look into whether the access is legal. They will ask the title company, City, or County (not the Realtor).

Sometimes a road is a road, but it’s not enough of a road

Occasionally you will find a property with a road, you can see it with your eyes, and the title company even states that they will insure for access, however the municipality still won’t let you build! This is because the road, while legal access for a Mini Cooper, is too wimpy to allow big construction equipment and emergency vehicles such as fire trucks.

One time I was listing a residential parcel in a Los Angeles neighborhood that was notoriously crowded, with existing homes crammed together and crawling up the hills in search of light and air. The lot I was selling had a paved road going right past it, adjacent to the land, and winding up the hill from there. I could drive right up to the land in my car and the title company said they would insure for access.

The parcel had legal and physical access. The City, however, would not allow construction. Why? Because the road was too narrow to accommodate emergency vehicles. Complicating the situation, historic homes on this street were built so close to the road, there was no way it could be widened without slicing off part of someone’s living room. From this experience I learned that sometimes a road offers legal and physical access, so a parcel is technically not landlocked, but the road is still insufficient to build.

Street signs do not always mark true roads

If the street sign has an official-looking appearance, it almost certainly marks an actual street. Occasionally, however, you will see a handmade sign. A person who lives out there went into their workshop, created a sign, and pounded it into the ground. Sometimes a handmade sign does, in fact, mark a legal street. Other times, the locals just adopted a name for an unofficial road and posted their own sign. If the road is not official, that can mean no legal access. So look into it to see which it is.

Occasionally, even a street does not mean access

Once in a while, a parcel will be directly adjacent to a street or highway and yet there is still no effective access for ingress and egress! This is especially common when the artery is a major thoroughfare, like a highway or four lane road. Cars stream by the land at a high rate of speed. The transportation authority will not allow anyone to install a driveway off the major artery on to the land in question because it could create a traffic hazard. Sometimes the driveway can be installed with special permission after a review process. Until that permission is granted, however, the parcel is effectively landlocked, even though it is adjacent to an artery.

Locked gates can matter

A few years ago, I was selling a piece of privately-owned land near a City water supply. There was a big water holding tank at the top of a hill on land. A dirt access road lead from an official paved street to the water tank and went right through the land that I was selling. This dirt access road appeared on the tax assessors plat map and so seemed to be legal access. However, the City had placed a big locked gate adjacent to the paved road, blocking the entrance to the dirt water supply road. The City would not give my client, the seller, a key.

A buyer for this parcel wanted to figure out if there was legal access. To get an answer, I asked the title company if they would insure for access. I emailed the title company a photo of the access road and locked gate. I thought they would see the road on the map and see the same road in the photo and insure for access. Surprisingly, the title company said no! The gate, locked by the City, was the reason.

The way the story ended is that the buyer was aware of all of this and bought it anyway. Then he hired a good attorney to take the City to court because they were impeding access to his land. Once that gate is opened, the title company will insure for access and the land will be worth much more.

No trespassing signs do not always mean there is no legal access

When I’m listing a parcel for sale that has a legally recorded easement for access, sometimes I will drive up to the land only to discover a “No Trespassing” sign. These signs are usually posted by a neighbor who lives in a house nearby. The neighbor’s house is surrounded by vacant land. The neighbor doesn’t own the surrounding parcels, but he figures that there’s no good reason for anyone to be sniffing about near his property.

It is common for neighbors to treat land near their house like they own it, even when they don’t. I find that few people understand the concept of an easement and the neighbor may be unaware that there is one. So, the bottom line for a potential buyer in this situation is yes, there is an easement, but no, the neighbor will not be happy to learn about it. Also, in general, no, the seller does not know the neighbor personally and, no, the seller is not going to talk to the neighbor about access. Buyers who encounter no trespassing signs should anticipate that they may have some work in front of them communicating with the neighbor and will want to take this into account when deciding whether or not to purchase.

Conclusion

Determining access is usually pretty straightforward. Most of the time you can look at the plat map and order a title report and you will have your answer. Other times, understanding access can be tricky. Sellers should consider ease of access when pricing their land and buyers should investigate access thoroughly before purchasing.