Leaving the "big city" for the country.

[wvpolekat]

All good points, Mark.

We have bought property from Coal companies in the past, and knew to look for most of that and where to look. But, I appreciate your bringing those points up. I actually enjoy this kind of research.

We do know that he holds a clear, lien free deed to it. There are no back taxes or judgments against the property or him. He did not purchase it, it was passed down to him. I did not continue to dig further back to find when it was purchased. Tax valuation is in line with purchase price.

As is the norm around here, he does not own mineral rights. I did not investigate to find who does own them. Doesn't much matter to me, because almost anyplace I can afford to buy, the situation will be the same.

There are no known wells on the property, active or inactive. I have not called the DEP.

We could find no record of the property being under lease to a gas company.

There is a fairly new, active gas well within a mile of the property, but not on the property.

There was some logging on the property about 2 years ago, but they cleaned up their mess. I have not found anything like tires or other dumping activity (been there, done that). Also no evidence of any other odd goings on like a meth lab or squatters/encroachment.

I haven't dug into the mine maps far enough to determine if it is under mined, and at what depth. I would not be at all surprised if it is. Talking to people who live on the same hill, and their families have for generations, they state that there have been no active mines near by for years. Of course, it is possible that a mine miles away goes underneath it. There is no history of subsidence or other mine related issues in the area. There have been no mine related surface activity on or near the property (tipple, processing, etc). Since it is at the top of a hill, mine related runoff/pollution onto the property is not an issue or concern.

Mark, I will send you a PM with the location if you are curious. I do not have enough geological expertise to determine what may be under it beyond the highly technical "rocks and dirt".

 

[linearxs]

When we purchased our property I had a great deal of fun looking up info on our county's GIS (Geographic Information Systems) server. Do a Google search for your county and GIS. It shows higher quality aerial photos than what you can get with google, contour maps, soil types, riparian setbacks, etc..Through the county fiscal office web site I could also look up deed and loan info on my parcel as well as the parcels surrounding it. I was fascinated to learn about the large loans my neighbors had on their properties. I'm actually surprised that kind of info was freely available on the web.

 

[dooleysm]

I've done some similar digging recently and noticed properties that I know of going into foreclosure for amounts much higher than they are worth. I assume this is due to people taking out home equity loans and defaulting. There is an amazing amount of information that is public record.

 

[wvpolekat]

Yeah, that would be nice. Here is how it went at the courthouse here when getting the tax map:

Me:"I need to get a copy of the tax map for a property"
Them: "What district is it in?"
Me: "No idea, it's over by thus and so"
Them: "Ok, that is XYZ district"
<She takes me over to the "map room">
<She gets out a ROLODEX and looks up which map # it is on, and proceeds to flip through a bunch of maps hanging in a rack>
Me: You know, they have these "computers" these days that would make this much easier, even let people look things up themselves
Them: Oh, we can't do that.
Me: Why not?
Them: Because not everyone can use a computer
Me: Couldn't you assist them in finding what they need if required, just like you have to do for EVERYONE now?
Them: Blank stare, blinking
Me: You know in many places, this information is available via the Internet
Them: You can't put this on the Internet, it's too private
Me: So, who can come in here and get it?
Them: Anyone.
Me: How is that different?
Them: Well we have to look it up for them.
Me: And is there any limit on WHO you can lookup what information for?
Them: No
Me: So, it's just like the Internet, but you have to do the work.
<Blank Stare, more blinks>
<She finds the map, proceeds to XEROX the part i need. Very akward and poor quality.>
Me: You know you can attach "printers" to these "computers" that would be much easier than this method.
Them: Oh, we can print them out from the copies on OUR computers, but we can't give those to other people.

I beat my head against the wall a few times over this exchange, and finally gave up. These are the same people that don't consider a US Passport valid ID. WV is a different world.

 

[dooleysm]

There's ALWAYS resistance to change, as we've seen in the digital TV transition discussions elsewhere on TBN. In another 10 years all this information will be online, there's no way around it.

 

[riptides]

Yeah, that would be nice. Here is how it went at the courthouse here when getting the tax map:

Yes, sigh......

Is it not incredible what gets to the web? I kind of admire your county for NOT doing the internet.

But a more sensible approach would be to put the information on the web, but leave some personal identifiable and financial information off the posting servlets.

The happy medium escapes us all.

 

[wvpolekat]

I would be almost as happy if I had to go to the courthouse and use a computer there to look up what I needed and print what I wanted to take with me (for a cost to print of course).

Obviously, they can't have the public digging through paper maps, they would quickly be destroyed or completely out of order.

I do agree to a point that just because it is public record, that does not mean it has to be available online. While nice, I would be pleased with just having it digitized and available at the courthouse.

 

[dooleysm]

Our county has what you've described. Everything is computerized, but you have to go to the courthouse and use their computers to access it. It would take so little effort to put it online, it just doesn't make sense to not do it. Perhaps it's just something my county hasn't gotten around to doing yet. I haven't heard of any opposition to it locally.

 

[wvpolekat]

Deal fell apart today.

The short version is, once it all went on paper, everything changed. Price, terms, etc. Just goes to show, don't believe it until it's on paper, verbal means nothing.

Oh well, there will be other opportunities.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry to hear it, but don't be surprised if they come back to you when they realize that nobody else wants to buy it. If and when it happens, be sure to lower your price to reflect your loss of time and effort put into it the first time around. Like you said, there are other opportunites. When one door closes, two more open up.

Eddie