No available water or sewer/septic - existing house

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Help!

Subject property has no access to any public water or sewer. The house was moved on to the site a number of years ago (still trying to find out when) and the site was split from a larger parcel. The existing water and septic lines run across a second adjoining parcel to a third property. There are no easements or agreements for the subject to have access to the water and septic or to use these lines. The subject has now been cut off from any available water or septic/sewer access. The site is small and there is no room for a well and septic when the neighbors have wells and septics so close already. I'm still trying to get information from the city about a possible variance or exception for this property to have it's own well and septic installed but, it doesn't look good.

What would you do with this??????

 

[Warren Sumner]

PUNT!!!! :lol:

 

[Rlong]

I did do one of these, BUT they COULD get water and sewer, so I adjusted as such and used other wrecks for comps. It was worth only a little more than a vacant site. But if the property is "uninhabitable" it seems the highest and best use is as a vacant lot?

 

[Warren Sumner]

Seriously, if you can't punt I guess this is a case of cost approach or extraction. You have to figure on MAJOR obsolesence of course. Is this a refinance appraisal? I would assume that no lender could make a loan on such a property. My understanding is that you can call off an appraisal based on extreme unforseen conditions if you disclose why you terminated it fully in your workfile. (Please correct me if I'm wrong). If I am correct, it may be worth your time in figuring out if this assignment is really worth your time. :wink:

Best of luck!!!

 

[Nancy in Friday Harbor]

Pamela,

Just a couple of questions for clarification ---

Is this a "landlocked" parcel with no legal access? If so, is it possible to purchase an easement?

Is it a private water/sewer company where they can't hook up at all?

My take on it is this --
If there is legal access to the parcel, either by actual land or by easement, then the lack of water/sewer could, conceivably, be "cured" by running the utilities up through the the access road/easement. The penalty to the value is the "cost to cure". That assumes that the cost would not be so great that it would exceed the value of the subject property. At that point, it becomes "incurable" and has no "market value" except to adjacent property owners.
If there's no way they can hook up to the water/sewer, then revert to the answer above -- it's probably "incurable".

Depending on your answers to the above, I'd compare it to similar properties with a functional utility deduction for the cost to cure for an "as is" value. Or you could make your value "subject to" connection.

If this is for a refi, I would bet the deal is dead -- appraisal or no appraisal!

Uh, why were they cut off from the existing situation/utilities? Is this a argument between neighbors/feud??

We do occasionally have similar problems here in the San Juans......
Email me if I can be of anymore help.


Nancy

 

[rtubbs]

Pamela, how can the property be in the city and not have water/sewer? Are there no zoning laws? or is it in the county where there are no zoning requirements? I'm assuming the appraisal is not for refi purposes.

Without addtional info, I would suggest appraising subject to a hypothetical condition or an extraordinary assumption.

 

[Nancy in Friday Harbor]

Oops, Pamela ... just re-read your post and realize you're dealing with wells and septic. Sorry!

Can they buy a well share? We have a lot of shared wells up here. Washington State requires that a well produce 200 gallons per day per household. If you have two households on the well, that works out to only a third of a gallon a minute pumped from the well. Up here you need a 100' diameter well protection area -- unless you can get an agreement from the neighbors that part of the 100' can be on their land. If you can't get 100', you can get an exemption down to 40' by double-sealing the well head.
The septic does have to be 100' away from the well, but there are a lot of new aerobic-type septic systems on the market which require only half as much drainfield/leachfield as traditional septic systems.
That's what our codes are -- don't know about FL. County environmental health department & building departments may be able to help.

Good Luck,
Nancy

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Pamela, just do the appraisal "subject to" connection to public water and sewer. Let them figure the costs and feasibility. I would bet the city woudl come up with some way to furnish them with water and sewer. Or, they may be able to set up a co-op situation with another home owner. If they want an "as is" value, give them the vacant lot value less cost to remove the property. I know, that is too easy a solution and the lender will want way more, but we are appraisers and not attorneys or city officials.

 

[jtrotta]

Pam it appears your describing (2) scenerio's; so I'll try this approach;

The subject was "split off" from another parcel and if no agreement for water or sewer rights were attached, you may not be able to get them. This would reflect current zoning & health codes. Health codes will supercede any other.

You say the site is small?? How did they get sub-division approval??? I would go directly to the source, PZC and see how the approval got made.


Chow for Now 8)

 

[Ben Vukicevich SRA]

Pam,

What a mess. If this is for a mortgage, then call the LO and explain the situation. The deal will die right then and there. Tim's suggestion about appraising it with a hypo condition that water and septic be installed is also a good idea. That way, you don't have to mess with alot of unknowns. The deal will die when they can't meet the hypo condition for well and septic.

If you still want to mess with this and they really can't get water and septic permits as you say, you may want to consider the following to help the property owner retain some of the value of his property. If the municipality will allow it, sink a well away from the other septic systems as per code, then install a holding tank for the sewer. The holding tank is sealed so there will be no problem with distance to the well. Now your appraisal problem is to determine the loss in value due to the excess cost of having the holding tank pumped when full. Hey, they pumped cesspools before sewer and septic systems so a holding tank may not be so bad. I know there are areas in PA that I heard of that have holding tanks for sewer disposal. I guess it depends on your market if they would be acceptable/allowed.

Just a thought.

A quick question. Why was the home cut-off from it's supply of well water and septic disposal?

Ben