And so the home building problems continue...

[5to1baby1in5]

Originally posted by: TheCanuck
Talked to the developer and he said that we could cross hatch the lots and sell off / divide them however we want. He even said that the surveyor in his office could do it as a favor to us. We'd then just have to pay his office's attorney about $200 to do the paperwork.

Now the question is how much should that land be sold for. Ideally I think I'd like to sell off the entire left hillside since I know his kids will probably be playing on it and I don't want any problems if they fall etc. Flat land around here is selling for around $4 to $7 a square foot ($47000 for .2 - .25 acres). Developer also said that since you want to be neighborly etc I could sell him the sliver of land for $4000 to $5000, which is again about the price the builder was talking about. However, I'm still betting this guy figures he should get the land for free / dirt cheap.

Use the builder to make him move the shed to his lot. There should be no question about doing this. If you want to close, then this has to be done. It also forces the neighbor to move his shed (kind of a punative measure for being a dick).

Talk to the neighbor, and tell him that he has to keep the shed off your property for insurance reasons. I'm sure your insurance company does not want to insure his shed, and your policy will cover all out buildings on your property. Plus it will be your property the government confinscates if he decides he wants to grow pot in his shed (food for thought).

If he acts reasonable about the whole thing, then offer to sell him the land at $4-$7 a square foot so long as he pays for the cost to subdivide the land. If this is too much money for him, then he has pleanty of room on his own property for it.

If he in any way gives you grief, then put up a big pole with a flood light on it right where his shed is. Possibly a parabolic dish pointed at his house if he seems paranoid at all.

 

[chambersc]

Originally posted by: j00fek
burn the shed down

/done

 

[fitzov]

Originally posted by: Baked
Take a grenade launcher and blow that shed up.

No way, mentos and diet coke FTW!

 

[MrBond]

I wouldn't sell it to him. He's already agreed to move the shed, so let him move it and then build your fence. It looks to me like he went out and bought a cheap shed and put it up to try and force you into selling the land to him. He probably thinks he's got you over a barrel right now and you'll be more willing to sell.

Dullard made a really good point that it might be easier to just sell it to him and hope he doesn't pull anything like this in the future, thus avoiding a "bad neighbor" scenario. That's true, but this guy could also be testing you and if you cave on this, who knows what problems you're going to have in the future. It's not like he built a big pole barn that has a corner on your lot, this shed appears to have been built for the sole purpose of trying to get you to sell him the land.

Don't fold on this one. Your neighbor will get over it and if he doesn't, at least he knows you won't take his crap in the future.

 

[TheCanuck]

Talked with the neighbor to see what the deal was. He told me that the builder told him that I didn't really care about the land so he decided that if I didn't care that I wouldn't mind if he put up a shed up. When I told him that he'll need to move it in order for us to close he said he didn't have a problem with that (no sh!t) but that he wanted to move it back to the same spot after we closed "if it was ok with me". I told him that I won't have an encroachment on my land for legal issues and the fact that it could interfere with my selling the land down the road. He said he "understood and that if we have to we might be able to figure out some sort of compensation" but danced around the issue about purchasing the piece of land from me. Where I come from you ask someone if you can use something first no matter how useless it might be to that other person.

When I was first looking at the lot I did tell the builder (what I assumed was in confidence) that I didn't want to keep that piece of land and that I had no problem selling it to the guy. The builder even said that I should sell it to the guy for a couple thousand. But now the builder has gone and basically told the guy "Hey your new neighbor doesn't care about that property so you can essentially do what you want".

So now I'm not only pissed off at the neighbor but the builder as well. If I just give this guy the land for nothing then he'll probably figure that I'm a push over and he can do whatever he wants down the road. However, it definitely looks like he isn't going to pay fair market value for the land or even half fmv.

 

[FoBoT]

how much $ would you lose if you just drop that place and go somewhere else? if you haven't closed, then you haven't bought it yet?
maybe you just tell the builder and neighbor to screw off and find another place to buy

 

[JDMnAR1]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
how much $ would you lose if you just drop that place and go somewhere else? if you haven't closed, then you haven't bought it yet?
maybe you just tell the builder and neighbor to screw off and find another place to buy

Yep, if you can walk away without taking a bath on it, that is definitely worthy of consideration. The neighbor will probably be a PITA from here on out if he thought it was OK to put that shed on property he didn't even own. What's next, "borrowing" your car when his is in the shop? It also sounds like the builder may have been spreading your business around when he should have been minding his own.

 

[I Saw OJ]

I didnt read all the posts but it seems like a pretty ****** headed thing to do on behalf of your neighbor. But it seems to have worked out and if he moves the shed, no harm no foul I guess.

 

[Tremulant]

I'd get him to move the shed and then refuse to sell him that piece of land, just because he went and put a shed there without asking, knowing that it wasn't on his property.

Actually, since it's on your property, wouldn't it be your shed? (I don't know property laws)

 

[TheCanuck]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
how much $ would you lose if you just drop that place and go somewhere else? if you haven't closed, then you haven't bought it yet?
maybe you just tell the builder and neighbor to screw off and find another place to buy

Well I have considered walking away but we've already give a $10,000 down payment for the house plus another $2000 in committent fees / application fee to the lender. I'd probably have to consult a lawyer to see if I could get my money back and even if I could I'd probably have to wait more than a year before it was returned.