Alright my badass kin-folk, let’s see if you are any better working through this bind than I am! I’m having a massive conflict with my inner badass, and my fearful little pragmatic self.
Recently, my wife and I bought 6.5 acres of land on the edge of my hometown. The plan was to build our own small home there. To the north of our land there was a strip of land 100’ wide that had been sitting vacant for as long as I can remember, and sometime during the last 5 years the owner had started digging out several hundred yards of black dirt. I called the owner prior to purchasing our land inquiring about whether or not he’d be interested to sell it. It sounded like he was interested, as the city had shut down his dirt mining activity. So far, so good.
Upon the initial survey of our land, however, it was discovered that he had also dug about 250 yards of black dirt out of the property that we had bought. To me, I thought this was an excellent turn of events since now I had a bargaining chip!
From the county records I discovered that he bought the land for $5,200 in 2011. He had dug out probably 500 yards of black dirt, earning himself a hefty profit of about $10,000. I figured that since the land was now full of holes and was in need of restoration and re-seeding, I would offer him $4,000, maybe $6,000, if he did the restoration first. “Nope," he said. That was out of the question. He then informs me that he’d always wanted to build a spec house, and he’d not be able to buy land in the city for anywhere near that price.
After doing more research, I learn that he’d have to spend between $15,000 and $20,000 just to extend the city services to even be in reach of his land. So if it’s a spec home he wants, he’d really have to leverage himself to get one going. In addition to this there are four (albeit smaller) lots just down the road (overlooking a lake!) with full city hookups going for $10,000 apiece.
So a spec home, I think, is a dumb move and probably just bluff talk. But if not a spec home, that what is his land good for? It's zoned R-1, which means the ONLY thing he can do with that property is build a single family dwelling. He can’t even build a pole barn in that zoning. Which brings up another wrinkle...
R-1 prohibits extraction of material (i.e., black dirt). That’s why his dirt mining was shut down in the first place. Not only that, but there is a letter on file with the city demanding that he restore the land to a useable condition. So now he has a strip of land that he can’t get dirt out of, that he has to repair, AND that would be expensive as hell to build a spec-home on… which is really the only thing he could do with it.
Armed with this information, but also really wanting to just buy the land and be done with it, I write up a full purchase agreement for $6,500 complete with a $500 earnest money check and we meet to have a conversation about what we’re going to do about this encroachment. I tell him we can talk about the encroachment, or that I have an offer ready for him in which he can just walk away from the mess he’s made and let me to handle the restoration.
He looks it over and tells me it’s still too low. His wife want’s at least $10,000, he tells me. I give him the paper work and tell him to talk it over. After a week or so goes by we get together on the phone. We dicker around again, and he finally says that he’d walk away for $8,500. I try to go for $8,000, feeling like a total fool that it’s come to this and kicking myself for “needing” this land so bad that I’d allow myself to be worked over so brutally. He said he needs to talk to his wife and that he’ll call me at noon.
He calls at noon and tells me his wife wants to talk it over on the weekend. It’s Tuesday. “Is she gone?”, I ask? "Nah, I’m just busy with some things”, he answers. I’m livid. We’re within $500, I’m trying to get my home building plans in order for yet this spring, and he’s going to make me wait 5 effing days before he gets back to me??? On Tuesday he finally calls. He tells me that before he can move on the land, he has some things that he needs to get sorted out. He should be ready to talk by Friday. Friday comes and he says basically the same thing. Later the next week, he’s finally ready to meet.
That day, I needed to call the city about an unrelated matter, and the water and drainage guy that I talked to greets me on the phone by saying, “well, it’s funny that you should call today.” “And why is that?”, I ask. “There was a big meeting yesterday about this land that you’ve been trying to make a deal on.” “Oh?”, I say, “What’s up?” It turns out that the “things” that the landowner needed to “sort out” involved organizing a meeting with the city to try to extract another 300 yards of black dirt from the land prior to selling it to me. Apparently, he produced his original permit (from a former employee who is now deceased) which allowed him to engage in the activities in the first place. I was told that this permit was issued in error, but that the city attorney recommended that they just let him take out another 300 yards to avoid litigation. Super.
So I go meet with the land owner basically already knowing what’s coming. I so want this to be over with. It’s become a total rat screw. He tells me of his meeting with the city and proposes that he remove another 300 yards of black dirt, then sell the land to me for $8,000 and I would then be responsible for meeting the city’s requirements for restoration. I agree to this on the condition that I get clarity from the city about the necessary requirements. There is to be a letter sent from the city detailing the requirements.
By this time I’m in full-blown house planning mode and it’s becoming clear that we’d really like our driveway to exit onto the highway through his land rather than through the neighborhood to our south. Time is now a factor, for I need a driveway to build. After a week, the letter finally arrives and it is now clear that he has the rest of the calendar year to get his dirt. Being a landscaper, and being that its now his busy time of the year, he tells me that he’s not going to be able to get to it any time soon. So since we need to build this year, we’ll not be getting the driveway where we want it.
In the meantime I ask the city to see the original permit that stimulated this whole reengagement of black dirt extraction, and this is where things REALLY get weird. The permit was a “remodeling” permit for a “residential repair” that was to total $500 in value. However, there was no home to remodel, no residence to repair, and instead of investing $500 in the project, he removed several hundred yards of black dirt and sold it!
At the end of the day I feel trapped. I really want him to be gone and for our property to include that strip of land as it flows so naturally with the topography of our land. But to get that land, it seems that I have to humiliate myself, enrich this guy, and let him call all the shots. I want to tell him to just screw off and fix where he’s encroached on my land, but then I’ll end up with a neighbor that I don’t want.
The very best option that I can come up with is to tell him that the driveway is the key thing for us, and that if we can’t close on this deal in a few weeks, I’ll no longer be in any hurry to purchase his land and that we should instead have a conversation about repairing the encroachment. At least that way, he’d risk having to do all the restoration work himself and lose the guarantee of the funds I’m offering.
Thoreau once said that "my greatest skill has been to want but little". It would seem that this is exactly where my badassity is lacking... for I want this land too much to act without fear.
What would you do? -----UPDATED below on reply #25---------