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State May Take Land |
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Dear Mrs. Lank:
I have a real interesting real estate question, and hope that you might be able to give me some advice or guidance.
For the last several years I have been trying to sell the old family farm which consist of several acres, which is now located on a busy road, which has become mostly commercial of the years. Over the last 2-3 years I have several interested parties in the property for hotels or some other business, but they all seemed to fizzle after potential buyers started to talk to the town where the land is located about permits and other requirements for changes in the zoning. I finally put it in the hands of a local realtor, which was working on selling it, but they too could not find any takers so far.
Finally a family relative suggested we contact the town directly to see why interested suitors for the property just never followed thru on their proposed projects for the land. As it turns out the State of New York, had been eyeing the property to widen the road running in front of the land and interchange near the land. No one ever contacted us about these up coming ideas, but the town would just scare away any potential buyer after they found those details. So we contacted the state for meeting to iron out what was going on behind the scenes. The State did acknowledge that they where eyeing the property for some time, and are interested in the frontage of the property for now, which would really land lock the property, preventing access to the rest of the property. They then would work on taking ownership of the rest of the land, several years down the road. Although I will get nothing like the six figures for the land that a hotel or business would bring, being is basically Eminent Domain now. I really see no recourse to fight the State and their planned expansion, and guess it is just take a wait and see position.
The problem is now that the realtor which had the listing, which is about to end in several days, wants 10% commission (commercial rate) of the monies I will receive from the State. They are saying that they lead the state to the land, and deserve the commission. I do not believe this to be true, do to other buyers where scared off by the states intent for several years before they got the listing. They also never showed me any letters of intent from the state. The land is zoned residential and not commercial at this time. At this point I have not received any monies, nor have they really closed the deal on taking the land. So am I obligated to pay the realtor any monies, being they did not have any involment in the state taking the property by Eminent Domain? I also may not receive any payment for years, being state is only in the talking / preliminary stages of the road expansion and they have not taken possession of any of the property.
Thank you in advance for your advice.
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That's quite a story. I wonder if the state, when it took the land, could be required to give you easements by necessity, giving access to any lots you sold behind the frontage? That way you could go ahead and sell the land behind -- driveway easements would do until and if the state widened the road, and after that access would be easy.
As for the agent's request for commission, from what you tell me I can't see that there's much of a claim there. The fact that the state saw the land before it was listed, and that the agent didn't procure a written offer (I assume) would seem enough to deny any claim.
But at this point you should definitely be working with the best real estate lawyer around. If there's no one who specializes in that area, just get the best lawyer in town, period. YOu can't afford to do this without legal help -- both with the state and with that agent.
Let me know what happens; I'm interested. |
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Edith
Originally published on August 6, 2008 |
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