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Updated over 6 years ago,

User Stats

12
Posts
1
Votes
Julian Illingworth
  • Investor
  • Portland, OR
1
Votes |
12
Posts

How to proceed? Bought parcel w/parking - now what...?

Julian Illingworth
  • Investor
  • Portland, OR
Posted

I bought a small parcel of land out of county tax foreclosure sale in WA.  The parcel of land I purchased is sandwiched between two ~8 unit apartment buildings.  I was attracted to the parcel because upon my initial research, it appeared that roughly a third of one of the neighboring apartments parking lot was actually on this parcel. Upon visiting, it looks like 4 of the 10 parking spaces are in fact on my parcel.  Parcel had been owned prior by a survey/construction company, who had likely been involved during the initial platting of the area.  

Took a flier and bought the parcel for ~$2000. 

Unknowns at the time of auction :  

1) EXACT location of lot lines, was going off google maps + county map records.  But those could have been off.  I'd swung by the property that morning to see if it all looked similar, and tried to figure out the legal description, but was slightly guessing at that point.  

2) impact of any adverse possession claims, I assumed the parking lot had been that way forever.  Did the apartment owner have a claim on the space now?

3) There were no easements recorded on the parcel I was purchasing.  Was there an unrecorded easement, or an easement that only got recorded on the adjoining property?  

After the auction I've taken these steps:

1) did further research on the lot lines, traced out based on the legal where I was pretty sure the corner of the lot was.  Called up a surveyor, he was so intrigued he went out himself for free and just verified where he thought the corner in question was located.  To actually locate it would need be done with monuments etc.  

2) Reached out to the management company of the apartments, made them aware of the situation, asked them to make it known to the owner.  Sent owner of record a letter explaining the situation, that I wanted to either sell or rent the parcel to him.  No response or interaction from the owner.  

3) contacted local RE lawyer.  He confirmed that in WA, tax foreclosure wipes out all claims of adverse possession.  He said an option would be to file a claim of quiet title, that would cost me approximately $5-7k..  Attorney also sent letter to owner and management company with his opinion.


What I'm considering:

1) Still should get a title report on the offending apartment property, just to double check there is no recorded easement there.  

2) Actually just take possession of the space, place a storage bin or something along those lines on my part of the parking lot.  Would likely swing by the county office to confirm what uses I'm allowed for the space (would likely need to claim it as personal storage and not renting the storage space), also swing by the county sheriffs office to alert them of the situation, and inform them that I am the rightful owner of that space, as I imagine they might be getting a call.  Also alert the management company of my action.  Objective being to force them to engage with me. 

Thoughts/advice on any of this would be much appreciated!  

Any other avenues you can think of, or issues I'm just totally missing?  

Thanks!

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