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[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Forum Board ] [ FAQ ] Re: Montana foreclosures Posted by bonnie on August 08, 2001 at 3:03 PM In Reply to: Re: Montana foreclosures posted by bonnie on August 08, 2001 at 9:41 AM : : : : : We were purchasing a home on 19.94 acres on Montana. When we bought, being ignorant of easement and didn't really understand what was on the title search, we were assured, by the seller, that the easement was a personal easement to a family and when they died, the easement would die along with them. 4 years later, the easement rears it's ugly head. A quarter section catty cornered from us is being sold off in 20's. Now it seems the 30' easement on our property is their road. Our house sits 9' off this easement. I had an attorney look at this. He says basically we don't really own that piece of property we are paying for. He says they can make us take down our gates, fence the easement (at our expense), and none of our animals can set foot on this easement. I am just sick at heart. I am 53, this was supposed to be our retirement, but cannot live 9 feet off a dirt easement. To boot, the first owners that are building are frequent customers of the bars in town and their reputation for drinking is quite well known. We both enjoy our privacy, which is why we moved to an isolated area, now there will be traffic 9 feet from our door. We would just like to walk off this property, would like to own property with NO easements. The property is secured by a warranty deed and there is a 2nd attached to the property. We are in the midst of remodeling. What are the repurcussions of walking off and our chances of ever owning anything again in our lives?? : : =•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•= : : Bonnie, well first off I would go to the title company that issued you your title insurance and have their engineering dept. actually draw, to scale, all the easements affecting your property to be absolutely sure where they are located. Usually they’ll draw in your boundaries and all the easements affecting the property in different colors, to make it easier to see each easement distinctly. Then ask them to show you, on your title insurance papers, where it describes these easements to make sure that they were really disclosed to you at the time of sale. Because if your title company failed to note that road easement affecting your property in your preliminary and final title report and insurance policy then they will be liable to you for whatever it takes to remedy their oversight. : : Now I think that in Montana the practice there is to issue ALTA title insurance coverage. If that’s true, then I also think the ALTA requires the actual plotting and drawing of the easements, rather than just a textual recitation of their location. If that’s true and they didn’t draw the easements out for you originally, then they may be liable to you for their failure to actually inform you of the consequence of that road easement. : : Finally, I would find a very good attorney whose specialty is title law. To find the caliber of attorney you need, I would inquire with several title companies for their list of attorneys that they recommend as specialists in title law. : : Most attorneys will waive any fees for your initial meeting to discuss their qualifications and experience. What you want is one with years of experience who also is known for litigating in court. If you can hire a sharp attorney who has a reputation of not being reluctant to go to trial, then you’ve got the guy/gal you need. : : So after you do all this and you determine that you’re truly holding the short end of the stick, then dispose of the property through a resale rather than abandonment. Just walking away, with no regard for the consequences of foreclosure, would be as serious a mistake as buying the acreage in the first place without methodically checking and understanding all the implications of all the easements it was burdened with, right? So please don’t compound your problems, especially when you’re not being forced into a foreclosure situation. : : Good luck folks. : : P.S. Where in Montana are you located? I have an acquaintance living up there. If he's close enough maybe I'll have him take a quick looksee too. : Thank you for your answer. There was a drawing; but, as I said the consequences were not explained to us, we were merely told that it was a personal easement and would die out. We were very naive when we bought. I feel our realtor didn't really keep our best interest in mind. I asked the attorney I saw about getting the road abandoned, he said we have to send out notices to land owners, make a publication and that if just 1 person objects we would most likely fail in our endeavor. He doesn't sound too encouraging to me. The cost is 3 to 5K and we are not rich people, we were scraping together money to put on a new roof, which, incidentally is leaking. We live in Ennis MT and work in Bozeman MT. Any information is very much appreciated. I don't want to abandon this property (we have put a tremendous amount of physical work and money into it) but, neither my husband or I can really deal with living in a property 9 feet off a dirt road. It's an invasion of our privacy and interfers with our basic freedoms, especially the pursuit of happiness!! I seriously doubt we could sell this piece of property for what we would need to get out of it with the situation the way it is, which is why we are very serious about walking off it. Perhaps if your acquaintance is not in this area, he/she would have knowledge of someone as you describe, not afraid to litigate. I don't know how to even begin to pick a good attorney to handle this. If there is a more private means of communication, I could give you my work & home number if some one would care to contact us. I believe you have my e-mail address that you have my permission to pass on. Also I can fax any information needed in this situation. Again, thank you so very much for your help (we need all the help we can get)!! I have just learned additional information. This whole thing is exploding into the biggest nightmare I have ever seen. I have just learned from the real estate agent that is selling the property catty cornered to us that the people in Parcel 1 can assign that road easement on our property to whomever they please. There are 8 lots up there. So, add it up 6 to 8 families with guests, kids and so forth, we could very easily have a steady stream of traffic going by our window. This will make our property worthless, no matter how much work, money, etc we put into it. There is no end to the number of people to whom this road easement could be assigned since there is an abundance of vacant land owned by the same person who is selling off the quarter section.. I know life is not fair but this borders on absurdity!! My sense of humor that I have tried to maintain throughout this is starting to fail me!! Follow Ups: Post a Followup: Name : E-Mail : Subject : Comments: : : : : : : : We were purchasing a home on 19.94 acres on Montana. When we bought, being ignorant of easement and didn't really understand what was on the title search, we were assured, by the seller, that the easement was a personal easement to a family and when they died, the easement would die along with them. 4 years later, the easement rears it's ugly head. A quarter section catty cornered from us is being sold off in 20's. Now it seems the 30' easement on our property is their road. Our house sits 9' off this easement. I had an attorney look at this. He says basically we don't really own that piece of property we are paying for. He says they can make us take down our gates, fence the easement (at our expense), and none of our animals can set foot on this easement. I am just sick at heart. I am 53, this was supposed to be our retirement, but cannot live 9 feet off a dirt easement. To boot, the first owners that are building are frequent customers of the bars in town and their reputation for drinking is quite well known. We both enjoy our privacy, which is why we moved to an isolated area, now there will be traffic 9 feet from our door. We would just like to walk off this property, would like to own property with NO easements. The property is secured by a warranty deed and there is a 2nd attached to the property. We are in the midst of remodeling. What are the repurcussions of walking off and our chances of ever owning anything again in our lives?? : : : =•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•= : : : Bonnie, well first off I would go to the title company that issued you your title insurance and have their engineering dept. actually draw, to scale, all the easements affecting your property to be absolutely sure where they are located. Usually they’ll draw in your boundaries and all the easements affecting the property in different colors, to make it easier to see each easement distinctly. Then ask them to show you, on your title insurance papers, where it describes these easements to make sure that they were really disclosed to you at the time of sale. Because if your title company failed to note that road easement affecting your property in your preliminary and final title report and insurance policy then they will be liable to you for whatever it takes to remedy their oversight. : : : Now I think that in Montana the practice there is to issue ALTA title insurance coverage. If that’s true, then I also think the ALTA requires the actual plotting and drawing of the easements, rather than just a textual recitation of their location. If that’s true and they didn’t draw the easements out for you originally, then they may be liable to you for their failure to actually inform you of the consequence of that road easement. : : : Finally, I would find a very good attorney whose specialty is title law. To find the caliber of attorney you need, I would inquire with several title companies for their list of attorneys that they recommend as specialists in title law. : : : Most attorneys will waive any fees for your initial meeting to discuss their qualifications and experience. What you want is one with years of experience who also is known for litigating in court. If you can hire a sharp attorney who has a reputation of not being reluctant to go to trial, then you’ve got the guy/gal you need. : : : So after you do all this and you determine that you’re truly holding the short end of the stick, then dispose of the property through a resale rather than abandonment. Just walking away, with no regard for the consequences of foreclosure, would be as serious a mistake as buying the acreage in the first place without methodically checking and understanding all the implications of all the easements it was burdened with, right? So please don’t compound your problems, especially when you’re not being forced into a foreclosure situation. : : : Good luck folks. : : : P.S. Where in Montana are you located? I have an acquaintance living up there. If he's close enough maybe I'll have him take a quick looksee too. : : Thank you for your answer. There was a drawing; but, as I said the consequences were not explained to us, we were merely told that it was a personal easement and would die out. We were very naive when we bought. I feel our realtor didn't really keep our best interest in mind. I asked the attorney I saw about getting the road abandoned, he said we have to send out notices to land owners, make a publication and that if just 1 person objects we would most likely fail in our endeavor. He doesn't sound too encouraging to me. The cost is 3 to 5K and we are not rich people, we were scraping together money to put on a new roof, which, incidentally is leaking. We live in Ennis MT and work in Bozeman MT. Any information is very much appreciated. I don't want to abandon this property (we have put a tremendous amount of physical work and money into it) but, neither my husband or I can really deal with living in a property 9 feet off a dirt road. It's an invasion of our privacy and interfers with our basic freedoms, especially the pursuit of happiness!! I seriously doubt we could sell this piece of property for what we would need to get out of it with the situation the way it is, which is why we are very serious about walking off it. Perhaps if your acquaintance is not in this area, he/she would have knowledge of someone as you describe, not afraid to litigate. I don't know how to even begin to pick a good attorney to handle this. If there is a more private means of communication, I could give you my work & home number if some one would care to contact us. I believe you have my e-mail address that you have my permission to pass on. Also I can fax any information needed in this situation. Again, thank you so very much for your help (we need all the help we can get)!! : I have just learned additional information. This whole thing is exploding into the biggest nightmare I have ever seen. I have just learned from the real estate agent that is selling the property catty cornered to us that the people in Parcel 1 can assign that road easement on our property to whomever they please. There are 8 lots up there. So, add it up 6 to 8 families with guests, kids and so forth, we could very easily have a steady stream of traffic going by our window. This will make our property worthless, no matter how much work, money, etc we put into it. There is no end to the number of people to whom this road easement could be assigned since there is an abundance of vacant land owned by the same person who is selling off the quarter section.. I know life is not fair but this borders on absurdity!! My sense of humor that I have tried to maintain throughout this is starting to fail me!! 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