If you've ever read even a couple posts on this blog before - then it should come as no surprise that things have not gone quite as smoothly with our purchase of a little waterfront lot in the Pascagoula River watershed as we had hoped.Picking up a small loan from the local bank was surprisingly easy despite the credit crunch... and we were expecting to set an early closing date...
Then we got the appraisal back. Now - if the land had simply come back appraised for less than we were planning on paying for it - it would have been a welcome nuisance to cancel our offer and restart the paperwork at the lower price.... Oh but it isn't quite that simple at all, of course.
The lot described in the appraisal as well as the lot legally described in the survey attached to the appraisal did not even remotely resemble the lot we were attempting to purchase. Our appraiser described a little strip of useless land 62' x 249' - just at 0.36 acres - and not big enough to build a camp within the covenant guidelines -- let alone actually install a well and septic tank while complying with the health department.
The skinny rectangle of land was not the pie-shaped lot with 160' of road frontage we were attempting to purchase.
In addition - the name on the warranty deed attached to the appraisal did not match the seller's name on our contract... (However we were faxed a copy of the proper quit-claim deed later in the week. Not that it helped. It's sort of important to know what land actually goes with the deed...)
Pffft.
Needless to say - we withdrew our offer pending a survey and new appraisal. We will also be asking for an inspection by the health department to determine if the real lot will be large enough for a camp with utilities.
We're not feeling optimistic about this as I tend to believe that when you run into way too many roadblocks in a situation like this -- it's usually a good indication that there are more headaches to come further down the road... And apparently my thinking has started to rub off on Dave over the years.
Sniff.
On the bright side - if this one doesn't work out -- it's not like there's a shortage of land-near-water around here..... We'll stumble into the right piece of it eventually.
9 comments:
I'm a little confused. Did the appraiser just maybe investigate the wrong property?
When I was buying my first house, I looked at the appraisal (always read stuff before you sign anything, my Dad used to say :-) and it didn't make sense to me. It turned out the appraiser's office had made a mistake, and the person sent to get the info from the records office had used the right page number but the book from an adjoining town or something.
The town records office may be your friend in this. They should have a plat map (or whatever it would be called) and can tell you who the owner is.
The appraiser was a bit defensive about the entire thing when Dave spoke with her - so not much help with figuring out the mess.
Apparently, the deed that was pulled refers to the correct property - but is not the most recent deed filed. The appraiser swears that the survey attached was included along with said deed in the public records... It's looking like there's a decades-long string of errors associated with land-filings and this property. Yay!
We withdrew and left everything in the hands of the real estate agent - telling her she could call if she got it straightened out and we'd consider drawing up a new offer. She did call us yesterday to say she thinks she has all the proper paperwork and finally convinced the appraiser to give it all another look IF she could prove a mistake was made. (IF!)
The subdivision plat was also attached to the appraisal and clearly showed the lot as a wedge-shaped lot adjoining two lots numbered in the 300s.... Which is why we were a little surprised that no one noticed the following page was of a rectangular-shaped lot adjoining lots numbered in the 60s. When confronted by the bank appraiser said she attached that page but it had nothing to do with her appraisal.... Odd - as her calculation of the size of the lot (which is a pretty big factor in value) was based on the dimensions given on that 'sheet of paper' as said dimensions were provided no where else.
We're leaving it up to all of them to figure it out since the records office is over an hour away from us and... Did I mention the brakes went out on our car last Sunday? :p
Oh dear. First the property and then the brakes? I am hoping it will all work out.
Oh, dear :-(
I am also trying to remember if title insurance helps in this case, but I imagine you, like me, would not touch this unless it were totally cleared up anyway.
I do remember my cousin, who is a retired real estate attorney, telling me something like there are two kinds of title insurance, and the one that protects the buyer is not the one that is normally involved in a sale, you have to ask for it. I have fogged out about what the "regular" kind protects.
Thanks, sandy. I'm sure it'll all come together -- it usually does, right? :)
KA - We thankfully had the right kind of title insurance when we bought this house... We ended up with a property line dispute concerning a couple brick columns in our backyard... Turns out the original survey was wrong. Title insurance company paid to move the columns - which we thought was pretty cool... (Turned out to be mostly a waste of time and money though since Katrina moved the columns right back to where they were originally...)
Ugh who can feel optimistic about anything lately? Hang in there hun!
Happy blogoversary!
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Life beside the edge
Happy blogoversary!
Are you twittering instead of blogging now?
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