Foreclosure denied access to community well!
Hello Everyone,
I am a flipper in Oregon and there is a really nice looking deal for a duplex that was foreclosed but the previous owner also owns the community well. He has stated that whoever buys the house will not have access to the community well.
Has anyone ever been in a situation like this? I have not made an offer yet, I am wondering if it will be worth the cost to go after the well or to drill a new water well system.
I have legal shield I thought about asking for advice on this from them and I have contacted a well digging company to get an estimate as well.
First thought is how does someone own a community well? Presume this deal is to purchase both sides of a duplex and the well is not on the subject land so he can disconnect at property line. Could it be possible to connect to municipal water or submeter to a neighbor? Talk to the local water and sewer authority. Sounds like a scare tactic but factor some expense here to straighten it out. Good luck.
Well, obviously the owner is ticked off for having lost the duplex in foreclosure and he's trying to retaliate.
If you are able to do that in your county, I'd follow the title many years back and see if there are easements or agreements. Also look at the other well users' documents and maybe talk to the neighbors.
Sit down with an attorney and check on the legality of that. Maybe there's grandfathering involved. How long has the duplex been vacant? Has it lost any grandfathering rights?
I don't think it's as easy as the guy just saying that you can't have the water
Typically all these can be found in original condo declaration docs or "common interest community" declaration docs in the county or town.
Do some DD if you like or ask your lawyer to get their tools out, ready to deal with this in court.
In Oregon, water rights are not easy -- all water is owned by the state. You can lookup water rights certificates here: http://www.oregon.gov/owrd/pages/index.aspx You can even call your local water master (phone number on that website) and get details. If there aren't existing water rights for that property, it will be very difficult to get them. Rough budget to put in a well and a pump would be about $20k. Good luck!
Originally posted by @Marianne C.:
In Oregon, water rights are not easy -- all water is owned by the state. You can lookup water rights certificates here: http://www.oregon.gov/owrd/pages/index.aspx You can even call your local water master (phone number on that website) and get details. If there aren't existing water rights for that property, it will be very difficult to get them. Rough budget to put in a well and a pump would be about $20k. Good luck!
Thanks for the info Marianne! On the coast here, water cisterns are common and hard to finance. Thankfully, our appraiser wrote up the details like a well for the loan to go through.
Thank you everyone, this was helpful, I decided to not go after the duplex. I found some other great potential flips that don't involve so many headaches.