Shared Driveway Easement Help

[CaliforniaSD]

Hello,
I am appraising a property that has a shared driveway easement with the neighbor. Both neighbors use the same driveway to gain access to detached separate parking garages in the back. I reviewed the easement and maintenance agreement from 1972 and it appears everything is spelled out clearly. I cannot find a comparable with a shared driveway anywhere nearby. I spoke to a couple agents and they said that they would consider that a negative characteristics when establishing a price for the property. How do I derive a negative adjustment value for a shared driveway? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

 

[glenn walker]

Hello,
I am appraising a property that has a shared driveway easement with the neighbor. Both neighbors use the same driveway to gain access to detached separate parking garages in the back. I reviewed the easement and maintenance agreement from 1972 and it appears everything is spelled out clearly. I cannot find a comparable with a shared driveway anywhere nearby. I spoke to a couple agents and they said that they would consider that a negative characteristics when establishing a price for the property. How do I derive a negative adjustment value for a shared driveway? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

We have owned three over the years all were older 1900 to 1940 homes. All were sold at different times and honestly no price difference and no negative buyer reactions. But a lot has to do where they are located. Ours were in-lower cost areas like San Bernardino California and buyers did not seem to care. To be honest I could never find a similar comparable ether there are not that many. The few I encountered are when one owner at one time had owned both lots and both homes and just planted a driveway down the middle.

My last two years ago with one in Colton CA on Fur Street and the other on Sepulveda Ave in San Bernardino so if you see Walker on a Common Driveway Easement that was us . Now If its a sale its baked into the cake and I would mention it but not make any adjustmnet .

I would rather defend no adjustment then just make one up and not be able to defend it. And no in CA going back 5 years ago or finding a matched pair is not going to happen . MY GUT Feeling is if its a Refinance at best 2% to 3% adjustment- A Purchase its EverReady factored in the purchase contract price. But again I cannot prove it. I would just state I had considered it in-my overall reconciliation but elected to not make any UN-supportable line item adjustment. As far as a Realtor I would have asked how much he/she thought but its also just a guess. Thank God it has a Driveway easement because when there is none thats when it gets nasty.

 

[Dublin ohio]

I see this type of arrangement quite often in rural areas. Have yet to see any impact. Whether it is a shared drive or not. Someone has to maintain it. Seems to me that it could be a positive. Since you are sharing the maintenance costs. Unless of course the others are deadbeats and don't pony up.

 

[Fernando]

I have come upon shared driveway easements when I considered buying 2-4 units.
I avoid shared easements because you have to have a good neighboring owner to cooperate with.
When I purchased a small commercial 6 years ago, I didn't realize I would soon had to do a new roof.
Fortunately, my adjacent neighbor was a good guy and share half he cost with we had a shared roof. My was leaking but his wasn't and it was better we put new whole roof at same time.

Few years ago, I wanted to make an offer on a fourplex but it had a shared driveway with a similar fourplex next door. I felt I had to deal with next deal neighbor's tenants especially with parking issues in the future. I didn't make an offer even though it's in a good location. Marketing time for that property was above average.

In recent offer, I made an offer on a duplex with a shared easement. I really liked the location even though it had a shared easement.
When I asked the listing agent to see an agreement with neighbor regarding shared driveway, she had no idea what I was talking about.
My understanding is that lenders want to see an agreement.
Anyway, my offer wasn't accepted with prices peaked at that time.

My point is that as an investor, I avoid shared driveway properties and thus there's less buyers for such properties.
As an appraiser, best to try to find similar comp with shared driveway. Good Luck.

 

[Ariba]

How would you even identify or find comparables with a shared driveway? That is not something that is listed in the MLS.

 

[Mark K]

Unlikely to find comps.

If, like the realtors, you feel it is a negative influence, reconcile towards the low end of the adjusted range.

I used to think it would be a negative but have never found any evidence to prove it.

 

[glenn walker]

Unlikely to find comps.

If, like the realtors, you feel it is a negative influence, reconcile towards the low end of the adjusted range.

I used to think it would be a negative but have never found any evidence to prove it.

Its a socio economic issue meaning in my area lower end housing it has no effect as buyers are purchasing a monthly payment-many older homes in city have no driveways or garages and cars park on street. BUT in higher end neighborhoods its rare to see a common or shared driveway. On four-Flex -units and condominiums it fairly common. Our only three homes we ever owned with shared driveways soils for no lower prices . On a Purchase its really kinda baked into eh cake as that particular buyer has determined its not a negative for him/her or they factored it into their purchase price. The cereal issue on lender financing is there be a Common Drive Way Easement agreement recorded ,which lays out who maintains it etc. in California where it can get nasty for a owner is a Driveway easmenty agreement cannot be enforced by local police as its a civil matter when two adjacent owners get into a dispute Ours were rentals so sometimes a tenant would get drunk-come home at 2 AM in the morning and park in each--others driveways and next morning or that night the fights started. Out here the Police will not get get involved so we had to sue the adjacent owner and get a court order telling him that his tenants cars had to stay on his side of the driveway.

Thats the potential pitfall of a common driveway but whats that adjustment ? No seller is ever going to admit he has had problems with a neighboring tenant violating the agreement. Personally I would never purchase a home to live in with one but as far as our tenants we didn't care if they got into fist fights or killed each other on Friday nights. We had one tenant who salaamed the tires on eh car parked on his side. of course he denied it and that was way before video or cell phone cameras. Another one had a loud diesel truck and he would leave it running for long periods lat eat night and a tenant filled his gas tank up with a garden hose. O' Well out there in the worst part of Felony Flats its just another day in the hood

 

[sputnam]

Houses in the same neighborhood would be more likely to have shared driveways. You can look on GoogleEarth or on the county's GIS and identify properties that share a driveway. Find one or a few that sold.. doesn't matter how long ago. Find a sale that would be a good pair. Do the analysis extracting the market reaction on a percentage basis. Make the adjustment and include comments about how it was derived in your report. Done. And, yes... it might take more time than you'd like to spend.

 

[glenn walker]

Houses in the same neighborhood would be more likely to have shared driveways. You can look on GoogleEarth or on the county's GIS and identify properties that share a driveway. Find one or a few that sold.. doesn't matter how long ago. Find a sale that would be a good pair. Do the analysis extracting the market reaction on a percentage basis. Make the adjustment and include comments about how it was derived in your report. Done. And, yes... it might take more time than you'd like to spend.

Not in California where the OP and I are --Yes on Units and Condo's but on older single family homes you may only have one or two in a entire neighborhood because most of the older homes were site built and not part of a subdivision or tract built so it would be almost zero chances . Then even if I did I have no idea if the owners have a common driveway assessment , or what its terms and conditions are but 90% of the time the sale would not even be in the same market area . I Am sure thats different in some areas but out here were i am located its almost impossible, For the last 8 years everything out here has sold in 1 to 15 days at full price and what in the past may have been a negative is no longer paid attention to. As this market slows up maybe next year we will start seeing things like this at slightly lower prices but not right now. When I was on review if the appraiser simply laid out what he had looked for and if he could not find a true comp or extract a supportable adjustment we signed off on it.

 

[CaliforniaSD]

How would you even identify or find comparables with a shared driveway? That is not something that is listed in the MLS.

Type in the word share and check all listings, type flag and search all flag lots, type private and search for listings with two properties that share a private road, etc.