Easement

[mtholton]

Has anyone established a easement in WI? I'd love to purchase one of the neighboring properties (both have indicated interest in selling in the next few years). In one case, I'd like 40 of the potential 100+ for sale. There is an existing logging road that I'd like to use to cross the 80 that I wouldn't want to buy. Any idea (assuming participating from the seller), how much getting an easement like this would cost? How hard of process etc? The land was clearcut recently and not super valuable from either a timber or ag perspective so there are limits on what would make sense to invest into the scenario. Thanks all!

 

[bwoods11]

I would guess the landowner would want enough $$$ to cover the loss of value of having an easement, hard to say without knowing more details.

 

[cavey]

One thought that worked for me, and note I'm not a fan of easements and would never grant one through my property for many reasons. The first land I bought was a 40 with a 16' easement into the property. In purchasing the property I worked out a deal with the adjoining property owner which the easement crossed through. We swapped "ownership" of land. I got a 33' strip into my property and gave him a 16' swath down the length of the property minus the 33' width of the strip going into my property - we simply quick claim deeded it. I didn't have to have it surveyed as the legal description was good enough and legal. In the end it didn't cost me much of anything and they ended up gaining some land. I had full ownership of a strip wide enough for good access and year round use. There may be a minimum width now too here in Dunn County for an easement or land locked access - I would consider talking with one of the county surveyors in preparing the legal description. I don't think you can get by with just a 16' easement I think the minimum is 33' and might even be 66'. Then make sure it is a non conditional use easement like an Ag only one.

If you can get an easement through (as in down the center) of a property at all, all the better I guess but, as a land owner the last thing I would want is someone else having rights to move through the heart of my land when ever they wanted for what ever reason they wanted in my mind that would devalue the property so much so that it would never happen, so to come up with a value or a reason to allow it would be tough. I can only wish you luck on getting it.

 

[yoderjac]

Nothing in WI, but I recently negotiated one in my area. In my case, the easement was 50' along the border of a parcel about 1/4 mile long. In the end, it comes down to how much the seller perceives he is giving up and how much it is worth to the buyer. Keep in mind, you will need to update multiple plats/deeds with the county, both for the buyer and seller land. Those transaction costs need to be covered by someone. Typically, a survey is needed as well. That generally means, even if the owner considers his land value diminishes minimally, the purchase price needs to be high enough to deal with the hassle.

My case was unusual in that the easement was granted to a property I did not yet own. I made an offer contingent on the seller buy an easement with my specification from the neighbor. The three of us met over lunch as gentlemen and discussed the options. The easement seller then talked to a lawyer and real estate agent to get pricing advice. In the seller of the property I was buying agreed to pay about $5K for the easement and cover all of the transaction costs for the easement seller. I agreed to cover 1/2 of the easement transaction costs at closing of the sale of the property I was buying.

The property I was buying already had an easement to it, but the cost of putting in a road along that route would have been much higher than my cost associated with getting the easement. It all worked out for me.

In the end, it is simply a matter of a buyer and seller coming to terms. I'd have a chat with the owner and see if he is amenable and go from there.

Our cases are similar in that the seller has incentive to grant the easement if it helps them sell the property. It will probably boil down to whether the seller feels he has a better chance of getting his price for the 100+ acres intact by keeping it together or whether he feels he will have a hard time selling it and he would rather sell 40 now and thinks he will be able to sell the rest later and get his price in total.


Thanks,

Jack

 

[j-bird]

As a seller - I would see little motivation to implement an easement. It's more cost to me with a lawyer and it will potentially devalue the related property and limit potential buyers.

As a buyer - I want to OWN the physical property that the access is on. No screwing around that way with some legal agreement that I have to potentially have to fight over in court.

 

[H20fwler]

I think it's better to just take the hit and purchase the easement if at all possible. You don't want any weird crap popping up about it in the future or some new landowner trying to give you crap down the road.