Welcome to the Rabbit Hole
I call it a Rabbit Hole because, no matter what happens, we always find ourselves diving deeper into all sorts of things like weird title chains, that unexplained extra 100 feet of property the surveyor found or just “I wonder…”
Real estate is not just list a house, stick it on the MLS, plant a sign in the yard and cross our fingers. Nor is it sending a buyer a list of 50 properties and telling them to pick their favorite 3.
The last buyer I had wanted 10 acres of raw land to build their dream home on. Seems easy enough, right? As Lee Corso says, “No so fast my friend.”
Our initial consultation lasted 90 minutes where we said, “Alright, tell us everything you want/need/desire” and the customer (not a client until we’re hired) gave us a good 10 minute explanation of where they were currently, what the dream was and how they imagined obtaining it.
I have a tendency to log how many hours we spend on each client. Before we even walked a single inch of land, we spent 11 hours reviewing google maps, tax records, water rights and possible well locations, septic information, accessibility issues, land contours, housing placement, utility access. We’d research, compile, email and chat - sometimes we’d drive out and look before we took them. Wash, rinse, repeat.
It wasn’t until we were able to narrow down the search to 3 properties, did we head out to take a look with them. When they picked their spot, we brought in title to take a look at things because when raw land changes hands, sometime it’s just Grandpappy telling the grandkids “One day all of this will be yours” and he leaves his wishes on a paper towel hanging on the fridge.
Yes, they are currently building their dream on a mesa overlooking the valley. We’ve got an open invitation to visit as they go through the different build stages.
Bottom line is this: Rabbit holes are common around here. (At the farm, it’s more like squirrel holes for us.). Whether it’s this scenario or just the basics of the transaction, that’s what I’ll be going through in this blog. The list of questions I’ve compiled will take a while to get through so if something is on your brain, feel free to fill out the contact form on the home page and send it my way.
