I made a rookie mistake when buying this property. At least I only paid $500 for it, but I will never let this happen again. The 0.15-acre land I purchased turned out not to be just grass but a paved street, which the neighbors use to enter their properties via the back. See the image. The houses face 20th Street, but 4 of the 7 houses have garages in the back of the property, and they go in and out via this private street in the middle of the block that doesn’t belong to them. The 0.15-acre strip of land belonged to the Diamond Coal and Land Company ages ago but was taken by the county for non-payment of taxes many years ago. I have no explanation for why Diamond Coal and Land went to the expense of paving the property so that third parties could get in and out.
I have talked to the zoning people in that city, and they are emphatic that the road is not government-owned or maintained. They speculate that perhaps some easement exists, giving the seven homes that face 20th St the right to use that back street in perpetuity, but they don’t know.
On one level, I welcome comments on whether this is an experience you have ever had. More specifically, if the language allows those homeowners the right to use that street, would it be found in the title to my property (which I have not received yet) or in the title to the other seven properties? In other words, would it be with the documentation of the person granting the easement or the parties receiving it? Or both?
Sylvia - Was this purchased through a tax sale? I have purchased a few tax sale certificates in Arizona and have seen these types of offerings on the county’s auction lists. It can be a little tricky gathering info on the properties. I’ve made mistakes, too - learning opportunities.
Exactly, it was through a tax sale! We all know that there is a huge amount of junk on the lists. I always weed stuff out right and left, but I got really careless here! I don’t feel devastated, because I feel I have bought some very good properties for little money, and this was only a $500 miscalculation. Still, this sort of carelessness is unacceptable.
I’d love to hear sometime about some of your “learning experiences.”
I wonder why on earth the coal company only owned that little strip, and why it built a road on it for the use of others. Was this historically a common practice? And I wonder if the neighbors are using it because no one is saying they can’t, or because there is something in writing giving them the right in perpetuity. As I said, the government was not involved in any of this.
I have looked up the names and addresses of the row of homes whose properties back into the road, in case I should want to write them later. How I handle it will be a function of what I find the answer to my basic question to be.
Sylvia - My biggest error was purchasing two tax sale certificates for land that was land-locked. I then paid an attorney $3800 to foreclose and convert them into deeds so I could sell them.
It was an emotional purchase (a big no-no) since the land is in a small rural town where I went to elementary school. I currently have the land up for sale, hoping to make a profit.
I have since purchased more tax sale certificates in Arizona and was able to use
my past experience to make better location choices.
All in all, I love investing in real estate and should have started this years ago.
Dan, my intention was to resell it. The lot is narrow, but actually this is typical in Hazleton, PA, where it is located. In fact, the zoning officer there told me that the typical dimensions of a lot there is 32’ x 200’. That is about what this is. It’s just that it turns out to have a street on it!
I would still like to know where easements are going to be found in the title and the plat map. By that I mean, would they be on the title and plat map of the owner extending the easement, or on the documentation of the owners receiving the benefit, or maybe both.
Sharon, this sounds very interesting. I am missing something. Why did you foreclose on landlocked properties that you had bought? And what did you buy if they were not deeds? I always like to avail myself of opportunities to learn.
Sylvia - I purchased Tax Sale Certificates. When landowner didn’t pay his taxes within 2 years, I was able to foreclose & turn them into deeds for the property.
In Arizona, we have about 95% certificates and only 5% deeds available in the county auctions.
Sylvia - No buyer yet. I’m advertising on four online platforms and lowering the price occasionally. I listed the best features and included photos and video. Basic sales techniques… Wondering, what is your sales plan for the paved street? What is your exit plan?
It is all a function of whether the neighbors were given permission in writing to use that street to access their garages in perpetuity. Finding that out is the critical first step. If there is nothing in writing, then I can put it up for sale for the buyer to build a home. As I said in this thread, most of the lots in Hazleton are very narrow.
On the other hand, if they were given the right to use this road forever, then I am up the creek. I will need to pay taxes, and Hazleton astonishingly values this lot at $20,000. More seriously, down the line there will be the issue of the road’s upkeep. If this is the case, I will go to the county tax claim office and throw myself at their mercy to see if they will take back the property, keeping the $500, with my blessing. This county has such an inefficient service as far as processing the properties, that it is taking a year for the process to be completed. I only started the process a couple of months ago.
I am in the process of buying a bunch of properties from this county tax sale office plus it’s very early in the process, so maybe…maybe…they would take the property back. If not, I guess I will be the only person in my circle of acquaintances who is the owner of a road!
Tax sale lists are full of weird parcels that people got stuck with, so I would just chalk it up to a $500 lesson in doing careful due diligence. Honestly I wouldn’t spend too much time on this (unless you are getting value out of researching it). And depending on the county timeline/regs I might just consider not paying the taxes and letting the county naturally take back the property in a few years. If someone else overpays for it at auction you could claim the excess proceeds.
Basically I do chalk it up to a $500 lesson to always check the street view of a property. As I said above, it is not the $500 that bother me, but the future obligations I might be incurring, particular with regard to road maintenance. I need to see what the agreement commits the owner to doing.
As you say, not paying the taxes may or may not be an option, depending on the county’s regulations. I have bought and would like to continue buying lots from this county. If I defaulted on the taxes, the county would never sell to me again. Plus it is bad for my record in general.
@willdub is spot on. I have found some incredibly strange properties on the tax sale list. Some incredibly good finds, too, but WOW are there some weird once you will come across. The assessor must’ve been smoking something crazy the day they approved some of those parcel splits.
Yes, you really wonder what they were thinking when they created lots that were 0.02 or 0.03 acre, or when you find one that is large, but it turns out to be the side of s steep cliff.
Then there is a huge number of small lots that in less prosperous times were considered adequate for a family, but now are not, especially when septic is going to be involved. Rural areas sooner or later are going to find that a large portion of available land can literally never be developed because of the rules being enforce today.
In my case, the lot in Hazleton is 34’ x 200’, and zoning has told me that that is actually the typical size of a lot in Hazleton. So I am not worried about being granted a dimensional variance for construction, especially as public sewer is involved. The problem was finding a paved street on it!
Going back to the properties on the delinquent tax property lists sold by the counties, I have decided to be philosophical about it. If one property in twenty is good, very few people will have the patience to make their way through the first nineteen to get to the good one. I happen to have that kind of patience and I have found some very good deals hiding in plain sight.
Call the local title company in the county seat. Ask what they would charge you to research title and find any / all easements among any of the neighboring properties.
