All Forum Posts by: Robert Fisher

Thank you for the quick replies. This is my first time dealing with real estate in Michigan (I'm from Ohio) so I'm not 100% sure which office does what. According to the county's website, the Equalization office is responsible for G.I.S. and mapping. There is also a planning commission (no zoning though) but they seem to be mostly responsible for large scale developments. I'm still trying to get this clarified.

The original lot was kind of 'L' shaped. The long part of the L is basically a driveway that connects to the road. When it was split, it became three parts, but only two parcels. Imagine that the corner of the 'L' shape has a 1/4 acre parcel and the two lengths coming out of the corner were the other parcel. Those two lengths are not connected because the corner parcel is separating them. So now the driveway part of the parcel belongs to the landlocked shorter length, but there is no actual legal access from one length to the other.

It really doesn't make any sense to me. Is it feasible that the previous owner split the property this way as a malicious effort against the foreclosing bank so that the parcel couldn't be sold?

Thanks again.

I am interested in purchasing a bank-owned property in Northern Michigan, however there seems to be one major problem. The GIS information for the parcel says that it was "illegally split" last year. Basically it appears that somehow they managed to split a larger parcel into three smaller parcels, leaving one of them without road access. I believe this is why it's called an illegal split.

I called the listing agent and he was very pessimistic about the property and didn't even want to discuss how to proceed with remedying the situation. At this point I don't have a buyer's agent, because I'd like to get some idea of what I'm in for before signing with an agent.

I've called the local Equalization office for some assistance, but so far no one has returned our calls. I've also left messages at the owning bank, but again, no one has returned my calls.

Can anyone help me understand how to proceed to fix the lot split issue? Does it actually need to be fixed prior to purchasing the property?

Thank you very much!