The property surrounded in BLUE is for sale.?ÿ I am somewhat interested, so I do some checking to find out that the property that is surrounded in RED has a strip attached along the south side of the house for access to the road.?ÿ This is actually part of the larger lot and not an easement.?ÿ The fence is along the south side of the property for the strip owned by RED.?ÿ?ÿ I question the real estate agent about this and she is clueless.?ÿ She then says "No, the property for the house that is for sale goes to the fence and that is what I have been telling people."?ÿ I told her it was not and that there could be the potential of a street some day opening up along the south side of the house if the land to the west gets developed.?ÿ It is already getting developed from the west coming the direction toward the back of the house and a nearby lake makes it valuable property.?ÿ She then says, "Let me pull up the GIS map.".?ÿ Then with her on the phone I walk her through what I am seeing and she begins to understand.?ÿ Then she says "I see what you mean, but the people who own that larger property with the strip are probably never going to use that as an access."?ÿ I told her I was not interested in having a potential street some day open up literally 8' from the corner of my house.?ÿ I told her she needed to stop telling people that the property line for the house is the fence.?ÿ I am sure red flags then go up to complicate a sale and she didn't appreciate my call.
Is there any other kind of RE Agent? In addition to clueless, many I have had the unfortunate experience to deal with have also been dishonest. They will do whatever it takes to collect their commission and anyone who allows the truth to get in the way of that is just plain evil in their minds.
A small fraction are honest, forthright, and professional.
Their problem is the threshold of entry is too low. There are more agents in one office of a multi-office brokerage than Land Surveyors in the entire County.
And the fact that buyer's agents don't get paid unless the deal closes.?ÿ It would be better to pay a fee for service but I doubt the vast majority of the public would be willing to pay to see a house.
The seller gets stuck with the bill for the commission (which is split between the brokerage and the agent).?ÿ The commissions tend to be high because all of the advertising, photos, and overhead costs are paid by a fraction of the sellers since some properties never sell and the agent loses their out-of-pocket expenses.?ÿ
My wife was a realtor for several years, it's a tough business. The standard commission is 6%; the buyer's and seller's brokerages split that and the brokerage typically pays half of that to the agent. So the agent might make $3,000 on a $200K transaction. One helluva lot of work goes into making that transaction happen, and if it falls through they don't get a penny for their efforts. Maybe some brokerages are different, but at the two my wife worked at there was no salary or other compensation for expenses, etc. She made money when she made a sale. This was in the 90's, and most of her sales were $60K or less. Dave is right; the point of entry is too low, and too many people get into it because they think it will be easy money. The upside for us was that our children were young and she was able to have a great deal of flexibility in her schedule.
Yep, with the house as close as it is to the boundary, I would not want to buy it, without being able to buy the strip of land also.?ÿ Although I would highly doubt a street would approved there, looks like 8' or 10' at the best.?ÿ Possibly a driveway, but most towns wont approve a subdivision without minimum 25' road frontage around here.
All the realtors I've dealt with, pretty much just repeat what the sellers tell them the boundary is, unless a survey map is available.?ÿ And I'm not sure I would want them quoting the County GIS maps, I've found alot of problems with those.
I just called the agent and asked if there had been any offers.?ÿ It is currently under contract.?ÿ I asked if the strip along the south side was a problem.?ÿ Long silence, and then she said not really.?ÿ?ÿ I doubt she had told anyone after talking to me.
There also might be an issue with the lot behind the three houses.?ÿ It appears that it was originally created for a joint sewer lagoon and retained by the original owner.?ÿ I asked her about this and she didn't know.?ÿ I would want to know as a?ÿbuyer of the house if I might be responsible for upkeep of the lagoon.?ÿ It doesn't appear to be active, so perhaps all the houses now went to laterals.?ÿ I am sure the potential buyers are clueless.
Yep, with the house as close as it is to the boundary, I would not want to buy it, without being able to buy the strip of land also.?ÿ Although I would highly doubt a street would approved there, looks like 8' or 10' at the best.?ÿ Possibly a driveway, but most towns wont approve a subdivision without minimum 25' road frontage around here.
All the realtors I've dealt with, pretty much just repeat what the sellers tell them the boundary is, unless a survey map is available.?ÿ And I'm not sure I would want them quoting the County GIS maps, I've found alot of problems with those.
When I worked as the GIS Technician for the County where Cartman, Kyle, Stan And Kenny Live, I routinely would tell people " GIS means get it surveyed..." and they would look at me with this look like I just spoke Klingon, and ask me again why the lines don't match up......
You cant fix stupid.... I wish I had a dollar for every time I tell people " You need to get a real Survey", because I'd actually have a lot of money by now.......
I once had a client tell me that the survey map I had provided them was wrong because they had just looked up the property on the county GIS site and it showed the boundary line going through the middle of the house, where my map showed the house completely inside the boundary lines.
I just called the agent and asked if there had been any offers.?ÿ It is currently under contract.?ÿ I asked if the strip along the south side was a problem.?ÿ Long silence, and then she said not really.?ÿ?ÿ I doubt she had told anyone after talking to me.
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What is, "Why should I get a survey?". I'll jump to, "Something stinky in the future west 40" for $1,000, Alex.
