Time is a Teacher

This week, as part of my mentorship of one of our newer agents, I accompanied him on a site visit to help assess a rural property he has been in active discussions with the owner about listing, and the visit very quickly turned into an unexpected trip down memory lane, triggered by prior experiences.

Heading into the hills, I was reminded of the hundreds of other times I had made this journey. As we approached the private gate to the community, I remembered handling another property nearby, which would give us some insight into the history of the road and the neighbors.

It turns out the other property I had handled was owned by the immediate neighbor whom I helped with their purchase. The two parcels share a long border, having been split from a single larger parcel years ago, so I had been there literally dozens of times and was very familiar with the lay of the land.

The first building we toured was an oversized steel barn that had been built on a large, leveled area with a fair amount of cut and fill. According to my agent, the owners had let him know that the barn had been installed without permits, which likely meant the grading had been done under the radar as well.

We also toured the well and two smaller homes on the property, where additional questions were raised after observing that the only electrical connection was to the new well. A total of 200A of service went to the main panel, which appeared to feed not only the well but also the barn (which had a 200A sub-panel) and both houses, only one of which had a visible sub-panel.

This was reminiscent of another situation I had handled where the only permit was for electrical supply to a well, after which multiple other buildings were constructed without permits, drawing their power from the well’s panel. This pointed to a need to identify any discrepancies between the two and disclose accordingly, preferably with the guidance of a qualified land-use consultant.

While these types of issues aren’t uncommon in mountain properties, and there’s no point-of-sale trigger to alert the County of these types of issues, it is important to advise a buyer of any such features and have them indemnify the Seller against any future liability as part of the disclosure process.

When it came time to discuss the owners’ expectations on pricing, it so happened I had recently closed escrow on a nearly identical piece of land with similarly unpermitted buildings one ridge over in the next gated community down the road. With its nearly identical lot size and remarkably similar topography and views, it was the perfect comp to show the owners in order to align on correct pricing.

Drawing from personal experience generally helps to not only convey how things are done, but by association also provides a base of knowledge upon which we are able to deliver a properly informed opinion and recommendations to make for a better trajectory for success.