All Forum Posts by: Lisa Miller

@Bill S. and @Wayne Brooks ,

Thanks for the quick read and advise! I will find/call attorney this morning. Should I still make effort to find the closing company to let them know what's coming?

What a mess my paragraphs didn't hold....

I'll resend so it's readable.

UGH, Monday morning!

THE WHOLE FRONT YARD IS GONE, Mechanic's Lien or Attorney?

I bought a house in 92 (Lot A), short platted the property built a duplex (Lot B) and sold Lot C. Flipped and sold the house in 94, with conditions per the county plat, that the home must be hooked up to sewer before sold again, or if any part of the system failed. One leg of the homes drain field crossed over onto lot B so a temporary easement 10'x20' was drawn into the plat. Everything was stated on the title of all three lots.

Twenty years later, Lot A has finally hung a sign to sell the house, a corner lot with sewer in both streets. The smaller street off the front yard, just got a fresh new layer of pavement mandating a five year moratorium restricting cutting into the new asphalt. Leaving the busy road as the only choice for sewer hookup at a cost of $30,000.

The owner of Lot A hires a drain field designer for certification, per his Realtor, and learns that his current system has failed. He tells the designer he has an easement. $12,000. later his new drain field design, approved by the county laid on my land. 60 x 65, Five trenches, two tanks and all the piping that goes with is open and exposed waiting for final approval. When I received a call...

THE WHOLE FRONT YARD IS GONE, IT'S GONE, OMG, the whole thing is GONE! What? I was just there yesterday how could it be gone.... I drove over to see the destruction and it was absolutely gone! I hung a note on the bulldozer demanding keys to my new machine as it was trespassing! I dug all night in file cabinets for paperwork dated back to 1992 and found all the proof... Title report of the original sale; 'MUST hook up to sewer upon sale or failure', 'Temporary easement, MUST hookup to sewer upon sale or failure'. I found stacks of paperwork demanding the hookup no matter the cost. And also realize the system is 15' over an designated road way (30' wide with 12' paved mandated by the plat). The system is a foot from the pavement. Wrong land, wrong system, encroaching and if the old system failed, am I contaminated!

Long story short; The work was stopped, one tank crushed and they hooked up to sewer. Leaving me with five open trenches, piping and one more tank I want pulled out. Needless to say I also want the piping and chambers pulled out, then the yard restored to grass. The lowest bid so far is $10,600. ($2,600 to pull the tank). Not including contamination, I just thought of that today.

My old neighbor said, "YOUR YARD ISN'T WORTH $2,000 TO ME, but I would be happy to give you that when the house sells".

$2K is an insult as it was apparently worth $12k a few days ago! Now his house has an accepted offer with closing in a few days.... There has been no work done. I need to get a lien on his home before closing, in other words, ASAP! Mechanics liens are for work done or planned to be done and not paid. Not for work not even contracted yet, let alone not paid. And I would be contracting it as the neighbor won't and I don't want him on my land. Am I to file a lien on his land for damage and work on my land... when I'm an owner, not a contractor?

Mechanics lien doesn't feel like the correct route. Small claims court (district court) takes several weeks and is limited to $6k. Superior court takes even longer and is expensive via filing fees, serving, Attorney, etc. I need to stake my claim immediately, before they close a $160K cash deal in a couple days without me. I plan to call all the escrow offices until I find who is closing and let them know there is a 10k+ issue and hope they will postpone until they can get it all sorted out and by then I should have something filed.

Please, Please, Please.... any advice here would be greatly appreciated... Is there an 'I GOT SCREWED, EMERGENCY LIEN' ?

Hey Cal, That was my first post, thanks for remembering it. I was so excited to post I didn't notice the one below it. Extreme opposites! lol

The forum has been busy today causing some posts to be a few pages back before they are seen. I think this should be up front again because there are so many tips and ideas to be shared and we all need to save money. Keeping expenses down creates Bigger Pockets, full of money and isn't that the goal!

Due diligence and Screen, Screen, Screen potential tenants.

Thanks @Ben Skove

Everything around the house is either paved or cemented with an away slope. 7" of rain this month and another 1" today plus that tomorrow, I'm thinking it must be the water table. The home was built in 1940 and the original owner dug and cemented a trough along one outer wall and half the wall in question. Bedroom, the wet room, flat floor, laundry room trough, which seemed smart when I purchased as wash machines sometimes leak. This situation however is the first, in the ten years I've owned it so again I am thinking water table. What is hydrostatic pressure? Sounds expensive.

Western Washington has had more than it's share of rain this winter. Seven inches this month alone. One of my properties has a full basement with cinder block foundation walls framed out with sheetrock. The lower half of sheetrock in one room was removed to find the source. One wall is saturated and thank goodness without cracks. It is getting aired and ready to be worked on.

What is the best SEALER product you have used? When the framing and sheetrock were installed all the cinder block was quad coated (four layers) with 'Dry Lock'. It held for 10 years. What do I use now? DL over DL? Do you have any special tips or tricks for this restoration process?

@Dante Nava

Completely different than easements, as with those you already own the property. And an owner past or present has granted the easement.

The lines I was talking about are usually very old and on county plat maps. If you see them there they will be (should be) on a surveyed map too, new or old. Removal of the lines would take some doing via legal, proving ownership or purchasing from the county. Then they will remove the line making your lot bigger or keep it separate and put your name on it.

@Jay Hinrichs , @Account Closed

Exactly!

Thanks Jay for the metes and bounds, It was on the tip of my tongue and I couldn't remember it exactly and didn't want to type something stupid. :)

In my county properties without owners are titled 'Unknown'. These parcels are usually tidelands or where old surveys state; corner at the old maple tree, follow the creek, etc., and/or measured by links and chains then are corrected with GPS surveys. Some parcels may have a long skinny strip of land bordering one side and labeled 'Unknown'.

The county sometimes allows purchase of half the thickness of the strip leaving the other half available to the neighbors. If the neighbors decline then the whole strip is available. It's not cheap and your property taxes will go up. Usually the area is already fenced and being used, tax free. I have an eleven foot wide strip over 300 feet long on one side of my land, 'Unknown'.

Other pieces would be very old maps usually created by the state or county laying out roads and neighborhoods in places that weren't built until the last fifty years or so. The old road layouts were abandoned usually due to the width being to narrow (11'). Drive thru the neighborhood and you would never know, Unknown strips are everywhere, the lines are on the plat maps.