Last night after I picked up our tax documents from the accountant, I took a quick drive over to the land we own in that area. I was surprised to find that the large trees that lined one side of our lot were gone – admittedly, they were dead and most likely dangerous in a stiff wind, but all traces of them were gone – and we’re not the ones that did it. I found that odd.
Also odd? Our lot was completely devoid of a lot of the overgrowth that occurred after we bought the land. Since we didn’t plan on building for quite some time, we just let it grow, knowing we’d take care of it when we began to build (which won’t happen for a LONG time). So it was surprisingly to find it completely cleared off as well.
Also interesting? The two lots next to ours had “for sale” signs up. Now, when we bought the land, we told the seller that we were DEFINITELY interested in the lot next to ours – but at the time we couldn’t afford it. The day after we closed on the land, the other lots became tied up in some litigation between the seller and another potential buyer whose bid was refused. I told the realtor that when the litigation came to an end we’d still be interested in the lot.
Upon arriving home last night I looked up the lots on a realty website and saw “pending contract” next to each lot. I was very sad about that. I asked Denis why the realtor didn’t call me, and he reminded me that when we moved to this town we had her show us 7-8 houses and then the next day we put in an offer on a FSBO and closed the deal on our own. He said, “I wouldn’t call us to tell us about the land either.”
He has a point. But I’m still sad. It would have been awesome to have a full acre of land for our dream house. The only GOOD thing about it? The seller sold each of the lots for about $15K more than we paid for ours in early 2006 – which means we’ve got a nice little investment going with our buildable 1/2 acre of land…
Is it not illegal for someone to walk onto your property and cut awawy trees and brush even if it is dead? I would imagine this is something you and D would have had to receive notice about prior to someone just waltzing onto property you bought and paid for.
I think if someone were to do this in NYC, they would be hearing from some department somewhere in the City and getting fined – heavily!
Yes, it is illegal for someone to come onto our property and do something to it – even if it’s just land. However, we have no way of knowing WHO did it – it could be the neighbors who lived next to the tree – maybe they thought they were theirs and had them torn down? Maybe it was the guy we bought the land from – maybe he cleared the entire 1.5 acre lot in an effort to make the two he was selling more attractive to buyers? There’s really no way of knowing who did it, therefore we can’t do anything about it.
And actually, whoever did it saved us the hassle and expense of doing it ourselves since they would have been torn down when we went to build ANYway. I plan on planting fast growing evergreen trees along that side of the lot for privacy when the time comes.
I’d just make sure that as the other lots go to settlement you visit periodically to make sure the surveyor gets the boundary lines accurately marked. Since you won’t be building soon, it would be smart for you to make sure your neighbors-to-be know you know where their property ends and your’s begins.
Dad – I had already thought of that and definitely plan on introducing myself if I see people on the land when I do my bi-monthly drivebys.