If you want to dig into the realities of land development, you’ve come to the right place.
The recording of real estate documents in the county public records provides notice to interested parties. Recording can also serve to secure the interest rights of a given party and the priority of interest. Let’s take a closer look at the importance of the public records in real estate.
I believe that no single step in the pre-closing inspection and feasibility study of real property is more important than environmental inspections.
This is the age-old question a lot of Sellers ask before marketing a property. It gets a little more complex when considering hybrid brokerage relationships, so let’s take a closer look at some of the issues.
Buying or Selling easements is another non-traditional way I have profited from land. There are different kinds of easements that we’ll look at, but an easement is simply a non-possessive interest in land. It’s a right that one party has for the use of another party’s land for a given purpose.
It is possible to close on real property and waive an inspection. I have never done it and I think it is reckless to do so under almost every condition. A waived inspection can create unnecessary risk and potential problems at three broad levels.
Some of us ask, “do I need a Will?” A qualified estate planning attorney is the person to provide the right answer, but many people avoid doing estate planning because of the perceived cost, or they just feel it’s too morbid to deal with right now. There are some pitfalls to this thinking, some of which we should look at.
Sometimes there is opportunity in land development to go beyond subdividing and take advantage of other related opportunities to generate revenue. In this case a private Water System.
Gaining the highest and best use from land is the goal. Most of us tend to think of subdividing or platting the property to do it, but there are other ways to monetize dirt and this one really worked for the landowner – leasing land for a Cellular Site.
This covers not just a gravel mining operation, but also valuable insight on how to implement a successful Plan “B” when Plan A goes sideways, how to be nimble and deal with vastly conflicting interests through firm pressure and successful negotiation.
Existing laws governing real estate practices, general business activity and professional services exist of course, but knowledge of them and caring enough to comply can be a different matter. Being on the good side of the law is always the goal, but then there are the situations where I am legally right, but morally conflicted.
There is not much in the bundle of rights that comes with real property ownership that is more volatile than the subject of water rights. The water on the surface of a property, as well as underground, is subject to control at every level, international, federal, state and local. A great way to start looking at this puzzling mess and try to sort it out is to look at some of the governmental entities that have water interests.
The only way I have ever funded my real estate projects is through private investors and I am fortunate that many of them have been repeat investors. The one fundamental truth for me is to treat my investors’ money better than I treat my own. Trust and fiduciary responsibility are the cornerstones of investor confidence, both to gain funding and to keep it.
Land development as a very risky proposition in my opinion. There are a hundred reasons why, but I would narrow it down a bit by pointing out that the costs are pretty much all front-loaded and there is no guarantee of a return. However, there are positive ways to work with these stark Land Development Realities
Adverse possession is an involuntary transfer of land governed by whatever state the land is located in. It is an operation of law that has certain statutory requirements to qualify. The actual transfer of title is secured after a Suit to Quiet Title.
The terms real estate and real property are used interchangeably all the time, but they are not the same thing. So now is a good time to take a look at what real property means and especially the importance of the legal rights and restrictions associated with it. Smart investors need to be mindful.
I believe that a person in the real estate business in a meaningful way must have a qualified Real Estate Attorney. The time to find this person is before trouble starts, and a wise person finds use for their attorney to prevent trouble in the first place.
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It is a perfect world when I hold all the cards and can dictate terms and conditions of a deal. That is not negotiating. Negotiation is a process of give and take.
Everyone knows that the transfer of real property to estate heirs can be accomplished in a will. What is frequently overlooked is that it may be possible to subdivide land through a will and then distribute it to heirs as incremental parcels created from the original ownership.
As a subdivider of land and principal representative of the legal landowner, I have sole responsibility to make sure that the contracts I sign are as bulletproof as possible.
This successful subdivision of a single 20 acre parcel into four 5 acre parcels occurred in a rural county that allowed a method of land segregation for a qualifying property and individual, lawfully avoiding the short or long plat process.
