Public vs private road (yes, again.)

[JSmith43]

Tear up a chunk of asphalt & check the serial numbers:icon_mrgreen:

That lender just wants to streamline the underwriting a bit & thinks they have a possible useful idiot that will mark the road public. That is an educated guess.

 

[ockyappraiser]

"public": maintained by the county

"private": NOT maintained by the county

It is clearly private. . .now the question is whether it is a road or a shared driveway.

 

[The Bob]

Check the deed. If its a private road, it should have wording similar to "This deed...blah, blah blah....along with a xx' easement..."

 

[Peter LeQuire]

The road is not maintained by the county. I've spoken with the county and was told clearly, "...that's not ours."

Dan

It is not a public road - it's a private road or shared driveway.

Unless there is some instrument for the use and maintenance of the shared road/driveway (in the deed or some other recorded instrument), I would condition the appraisal on such an agreement being recorded, since lack of access would probably have a significant impact on your appraisal.

 

[stangtime]

As always, I appreciate the input. Even after 20+ years of this job it's good to discuss these things.

At the current time I have no information that would make me change the report. As soon as I let the lender know that I had spoken to the county, confirmed that it was not maintained by the county, and explained that if the report were changed it would be inconsistent with confirmed county documents and could be a misleading appraisal, she completely backed down and thanked me for my quick responses today.

Good point, Peter. Noted.

Dan

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

Hopefully that's the end of it. Maybe someone, such as the borrower, told then it was a public road.

 

[TJSum]

When does a shared driveway turn into a private road? What is the determining factor? Seems to me, whatever it is called, maintenance of it would be an UW issue. Sounds like the UW wanted to blow off the maintenance issue by having you call it a public street. If the street address of the subject shows the street name of the public street feeding the private road or shared driveway, I would lean on calling it a shared driveway, but note in the report the maintenance issue of the shared driveway.

 

[Michigan CG]

When does a shared driveway turn into a private road? What is the determining factor? ......

That was my thought. Most shared driveways are maybe 50 feet long at most. When is it a road, and when is it a shared driveway? Sort of like when is it a tomato and when is it a tomoto?

 

[Elliott]

The "reason" public roads are important is (anyone can correct me if they have another theory) is that Fannie use to end up paying for road maintenance, easements, and anything else that costs money, when they'd get a foreclosure back in the 80's. So they said, the subject better have ingress and egress to a public road. They got tired of having to deal with 3 other private road users who had 75 IQs. Public roads look different on plat maps and they don't have gates.

 

[leasedfee]

The city's or county's right-of-way department keeps track of deed or easement dedications and acquisitions. Check with them. Alternatively, somewhere in the chain-of-title (i.e., look at the transfer of deeds or plats) there is original documentation of the ownership of that strip. I'm betting that your original assessment is correct.