Real Estate sign posted on our land??? (bogus)

[Richard]

Boy, I don't know where to start. I will say upfront, this happened last night and is still developing so I'm not sure of all the facts.

Attached is a picture of "the farm". As you may see by the outline, the farm is surrounded by water. TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) owns all the land between the farm and water.

This is the next BIG parcel down the lake from some major developments (million$$ and up homes). "these folks" have been bugging my father in law for YEARS trying to get him to sell them the farm.

They've done it under various guises, the most comical to me was when the adjacent county's SHERRIFF stopped by... said he wanted to buy the farm so the adjacent county could set up a firing range...seems they were getting driven out of theirs. So let me see if I understand this... the adjacent county has NO places to train with firearms? There are no indoor facilities? They want to buy a 250 acre tract of land on the lake across from a retirement community AND next door to another million dollar home community???

And I was born WHEN??? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Ok, so over the years, my Father in law has dealt with these people (idiots).

Now, last night we go out at 6:00 to take my wife to her birthday dinner. We get home about 10:00 and what do we see but a for sale sign???

Get this...

I live at the end of a dead end road. The road stops AT the water, right next to our dock. TVA owns the surrounding land. Right next to our driveway, there now sits a "For Sale" sign with a realtor's name/number (I'm awaiting his return call to find out where the great deal is)

Being a bit cynical, I'm suspecting he's either got it there to "mark" it for someone who otherwise might not be familiar with the area (showing them where the farm is) OR, he's got it there on TVA's land, trying to illicit general interest offers, so he can again, go to my father in law (bother him) and say "Hey look, I've got Joe Schmoe here, interested in buying your farm..."

I've already called TVA & let them know I'd like to buy "THEIR" land, since the sign sits on it. He of course, knows nothing about it and of course, the farm isn't for sale and no contract has been looked at, created and much less, signed.

Soooooooooooooo,

Any words of wisdom on how I might want to approach this real estate dude? Frankly, if he IS putting the sign there on the sly, to try to get people interested in buying the farm, (through misrepresentation) I'd be just as happy seeing him lose his license out of spite.

I've got a friend who owns his own agency and since this for sale sign says it's a MLS listing, I'm going to see of my pal can find it. I would REALLY love to hear the story if the farm is in the MLS listings without any contracts...

I've been to the MLS website but don't see anything there.

Any thoughts on how I ought to best approach this?

 

[DUMBDOG]

I would pull the sign and offer to sell it back to the realtor when he comes to ask about it.

 

[slowrev]

If the sign is on TVA land let them handle it. If it is on your FIL's land and he knows nothing about it, file a tresspass complaint against the realator.
Ben

 

[Richard]

I talked to the TVA guy (I'm helping them barricade a lot of trespass areas along same road, so we're on good terms and a mutually beneficial aimed relationship)

Anyways, he said he usually takes them but finds the location of this one quite unusal.

He said they're usually on TVA land more as a mistake, like on the wrong side of the road across from the house/land that is ACTUALLY for sale. Sort of just someone putting sign up in wrong place (perhaps semi-innocently)

Here however, he's scratching his head because we are the ONLY people living here and nothing is for sale.

My intent is to get a picture of it tonight and I'll post it here. I guess I'll have to figure out how to blurr the agent's name out first

The agents office has already returned my call. Seems he's out of pocket until afternoon, but the guy who returned my call was VERY eager to be of service...

I told him I'd be happy to wait for the agent, then he asked me what it was about (in a very salivating kind of way). I said "Well, it is of course, about a piece of property" and I let it go at that.

Meanwhile, my guy at TVA said he won't be able to get by there until tomorrow but I could feel free to take it down if I wanted to. I was debating on taking it down, driving to their (real estate) main office which is just a mile from my work, walk in with sign and tell them I want to know the story about it... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif This way I couldn't be accused of stealing or vandelizing anything since it's being returned to the rightful owners.

 

[Richard]

I've put an arrow where the approximate location of the sign is. As you might infer, there are NO neighbors around here (only 2 other neighbors and they're not for sale either).

This seems to be a quite specific act who's motives are currently unclear. I don't REALLY expect to find out the honest motives as I DO suspect they're a bit underhanded.

 

[RonR]

It's probably against the rules here, but if all of us had the info on the sign--and we all emailed/called the realtor telling them we saw this sign and were VERY INTERESTED in considering this property and could they please provide us the details......................

ron

 

[dmccarty]

Richard,

It would be very interesting if you parcel was in MLS. If it is, ask your agent friend if any rules have been broken. If the guy is playing the game as you suspect me thinks the state real estate commission should be getting a complaint.

My wife just got here brokers license late last year and I have been impressed with how her office works. Course we know the family that owns a portion of the firm so its really no surprise to us how they work.

My wife was at a family's house working on a listing contract for some land that was inherited. The house was on 50ish acres in a fast growing area. The family said that they have people asking for them to sell all of the time. But then the "buyer" will say that even though they want the land its not worth too much since it does not perc. Land in that part of the county is expensive with development going on all over the place. Bottom line is that the land is worth at least 20,000 per acre. When the family heard that they about flipped out of their chairs. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Obviously the door knocker buyers where not offering 20K per acre. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

There is lots of money to be made by dishonest buyers on unsuspecting sellers of rural land and timber. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Later,
Dan

 

[SnowRidge]

Richard, what probably happened is fairly common. A friend of mine woke up from a nap to find a realtor's sign in her front yard. Not only that, but it said SOLD on it. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

It was a case of goof up by the 'sign guy.' A lot of real estate companies have sign guys whose only job is to put up and remove signs. Well, sometimes they make mistakes and get the wrong address. In my friend's case, neighbors had their house listed. They did not want a for sale sign out front, and none was installed, but when the property sold they gave the real estate company permission to install a sign. The sign guy or someone in the office transposed two digits, and the sign ended up on the wrong property. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

You may be the victim of a similar sort of mix up.

BTW, in Florida, signs that end up on Corps Of Engineers waterfront property result in a fine for the real estate company. They are lucky TVA doesn't do the same thing here.

 

[Richard]

Just hung up with my real estate friend. He looked it up in his MLS listings and saw nothing. He then informed me that MLS is QUITE detailed on their requirements to have a listing, one of which, is a signed contract... So he doesn't expect to see it there.

He went on to inform me that it's illegal to post a for sale sign WITOUT a contract although that might not preclude someone from doing under some guise of "mistake" or someone "stole" the sign as a prank...

Given how remote we are (nearest neighbor before seeing the sign is 1/2 mile) and the sign is at a dead end... seems to me it HAS to be something a bit screwey. I have a real hard time seeing pranksters carry a sign this far out. When I was talking to TVA, he said his experience with pranksters is they usually put the signs on a neighbors house or perhaps a cemetary plot...

I have now been to the website for the listing agent. The name on the sign is the Managing Broker HIMSELF of a specific office so I'm sure he'll be interested to hear about this if in fact it IS some honest "misunderstanding" and his name is hanging out there to dry.

Their company has numerous listings and I have looked through them all...finding nothing /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

When I talk to him later today, unless he beats me to it, I'll tell him I'm going to take his sign down and he can come to my house & pick it up. I'm not going to carry it into town for him.

I'll report back on his commentary after I speak to him.

 

[riptides]

I'd vote for mistaken identity OR I really didn't read your post carefully, but could the sign be posted on a right-of-way or public access point?

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif