Appraisal 101 - Private Or Public Road ?

[Ca Ar Independent]

I'm having a plethora of issues suddenly regarding public/private roads in my atypical rural market area. The million dollar question is: Is the box on the 1004 asking if the road is publicly maintained ( by a public entity) OR are they asking if the road is publicly accessible. I understand that both come into play for the underwriter but which is the primary concern for which we are checking the box? Is the question primarily about access or maintenance?

There is a debate among my peers, I'm interested in expanding the advice pool!

 

[Howard Klahr]

maintenance

 

[Sierra Dale]

They are asking if the road is publically owned. The question is about maintenance. If the road is privately owned then you should find out who maintains the road and if there are any contracts. In HOA's it usually is the HOA. Private roads on the site without a maintenance agreement with a company are usually maintained by owner. In some rural areas in Nevada this is common. Also the length of the road if in an area where it is common may affect value. Comparable property analysis over time may show the effect on value if there is a measurable variance. In my area when I did do rural properties with a another appraiser we found some measurable differences. If the comparables are basically all the same distance from the public road an analysis may not be needed. Drive the comps and measure the mileage from the public road. Then again it may make no difference in your area.

 

[Ca Ar Independent]

Lenders "senior underwriter" is telling me THEY SAY the box refers to access. I was firmly directed to " Mark the box 'public" and then make maintenance commentary as secondary". A long argument ensued. We have roads that the county "has not accepted as public" but which they maintain through a separate road maintenance agreement. Some roads in the subdivision have this situation while others are "public", "accepted by the county as public roads" and county maintained".

 

[gregb]

Who actually "owns" the road? Is it owned by a private party(ies) or by the county, city, state or feds?

 

[Sierra Dale]

I need to clarify. The roads I referred to when we found a measurable effect on value, were mostly gravel or dirt roads. In your case I would check private then in the commentary write about the maintenance agreement.

 

[Howard Klahr]

if the road is privately owned but publicly maintained the owners of the private road are paying the county to maintain it. That is a contractual obligation. Just because the county maintains it does not mandate public access..

 

[jay trotta]

Who actually "owns" the road? Is it owned by a private party(ies) or by the county, city, state or feds?

Underneath all is the Land; rented by the municipality(to collect taxes), rented by the State (who taxes the public & municipality), and stolen from the Native Americans, very similar to how ALL your Clients were taken by Federal Regulatory Change.
Seems, like the DC crowd hasn't changed their One Way streets in a long time Show Me The Moneyyyyy

 

[Dublin ohio]

Who actually "owns" the road? Is it owned by a private party(ies) or by the county, city, state or feds?

Lenders "senior underwriter" is telling me THEY SAY the box refers to access. I was firmly directed to " Mark the box 'public" and then make maintenance commentary as secondary". A long argument ensued. We have roads that the county "has not accepted as public" but which they maintain through a separate road maintenance agreement. Some roads in the subdivision have this situation while others are "public", "accepted by the county as public roads" and county maintained".

Sounds like "senior underwriter" is having a "senior moment" What does UW mean by "access". Does it mean that the public can access the road or does it mean that the property can be directly accessed from public road

 

[CindyR]

I like when they just put the label right on the street sign. no questions asked.