We have the most amazing real estate agent. She hasn't given me permission to say her name, but she's awesome. We found a great place and all seemed to be working in our favor. Every little detail was falling into place. It was really wonderful to see it happen and to know that we didn't have to do anything really to force this or that - it just came together; until it didn't.
I'll call her Ann. That's not her name, but I have to call her something when I write about her. Ann, the fantastic real estate woman, asked us if we knew whether the land had been surveyed. We didn't; it's not something we would know, but it is something that the agents know should be done. I say that; the good agents know that it should be done. Apparently, the agent who sold the property to the current owners didn't know this, and they got stuck royally!
Ann had the survey pulled, but it was absolutely off. It wasn't anything like the land was being described, and it had a few "details" missing as well. The first detail was that the county had the house on 1.68 acres, not the 7.0 acres we were told went with it. That's a problem for me. When we pulled the survey plot maps for the surrounding plots, it was apparent that there were 4 separate panels or plots and they totalled 14.40 acres, not 7, not 1.68. This was very concerning because we weren't about to buy a house in the middle of other people's property if they refused to sell it.
It turns out that the current owners own about 80% of the 14.40 acres (they didn't even know that), and a good 5 acres of it has an oil company lease. The oil company is paying the previous owners, not the current ones, to use the land. The entire time, the current owners could have had the previous owners give them rent for the lease, but they didn't know they owned it. They wanted me to buy it without any guarantee that the previous owner would pay me to have the oil company pay them—so yeah, NO. If I own it, it's MINE, and if the oil company wants to stay on it, they can pay me. I get that it is a 99-year lease, but the owners SOLD that land (but kept the lease money). There's something fishy there!
Well, we told Ann we could buy the land with the new survey giving us the property we want, not including the oil-leased area, but there was ONE more problem -- and as small as it may be, it was a huge deal. The land survey showed that the land between the street going to the oil company lease in the back, belonged to the previous owners or the current owners, they weren't sure, but it led through our land to the oil leased land, making it impossible for us to put our fences up in the front and on the far side where our horses would be. We'd have to use a one-lane drive to drive trucks pulling trailers down a very narrow strip where we couldn't turn around until we passed the barn! Again -- NO!
15-20 feet of land running south from the western ingress to the far south side belonged to someone else. If they wanted to put in a drive, they could. If they wanted to sell it, they could. If they wanted to block it, they could. They wouldn't mow it or keep it, but they owned it. NOPE. Not happening. It's mine or it's not mine. I won't put in a short fence, share my land, or let others on my land. It's my damn land, or it isn't. It may or may not be. I've asked them to replot it, do what they need to do, or we're pulling out of the sale. We have the right because they misrepresented their side.
The good news is, we are fine where we are, and we will stay until we find the right place. If they can get the sellers to redo the survey ($5000) and sell it to us without any strings, we'll consider it. We won't offer more because we thought it was included to begin with. They can take the loss or try to sell it to someone else and be told no again. They'll have NO ONE buy the place under those conditions—unless they're really dumb. Our agent had our back, and she still does. We'll use her no matter what - but it may be in the spring instead of next month.
It will happen. We'll find a good place. The right place. God is good.
PHOTO CREDIT: "Ann" but not really - it's from Adobe Stock.
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