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I had a friend who was having a portion of their land taken under eminent domain. I was able to find an appraiser, through a referral, that specializes. She has completed a number of these type of appraisals. She said that her fee will be paid by the municipality, which is required under the eminent domain laws.
If you've gotten written notice, you may want to read it carefully. It's possible that the notice includes your right to a private appraisal.
You may want to look up eminent domain rules or speak to an attorney, to see if this is a nationwide criteria. I would think so, but ya never know.
Since this is just for a small portion of land, does the appraisal entail the home as well?
Usually the appraisal would just value the land. Price per acre is the most common measurement, apportioned accordingly. Theoretically, a before-and-after valuation of the entire property could be conducted--with the difference being the amount of compensation--but that is a much more involved appraisal process and I doubt that it would be used for a simple taking of a small amount of land. (However, specifics matter.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Janet33
Is it typical for homeowner to get appraisal prior to being contacted by municipality?
I would say that it is not typical. (Why spend money if you don't need to?) More often, people would tend to wait until they saw the amount of the offer. If they felt that it was insufficient, they would then decide whether to get an appraisal on their own to try to justify a higher amount. Owners might get ahead of the game with highly valuable parcels. You should probably contact the City to inquire about when they might make an offer and in what time frame they expect to receive responses.
You will need to find an appraiser who specializes in eminent domain. You need one who knows all the rules and has done eminent domain appraisals before.
The fee will be in the $1,000s. The city will pay for you to get an independent appraisal.
It will most likely take several phone calls to different appraisers until you find someone who knows someone. You can try the Appraisal Institute as they may be able to refer you to an appraiser who specializes in this area. There are a very limited number of appraisers who do this type of work.
If the City has paid for an appraisal I doubt that they would also pay for an appraisal secured by the owner. Much really depends on the scope of the project that they are doing. If there are multiple small parcels involved, they may just get an appraisal to indicate general land values in the area, and make offers based upon that. The City may choose not to get appraisals for each individual property. An appraisal would be needed if they took it to court, but they might be able to forgo a formal appraisal if they could reach a sales agreement. That's basically what happened in our case. Again, a lot depends on the scope of the project and the local eminent domain laws and practices.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigW
I had a friend who was having a portion of their land taken under eminent domain. I was able to find an appraiser, through a referral, that specializes. She has completed a number of these type of appraisals. She said that her fee will be paid by the municipality, which is required under the eminent domain laws.
Eminent domain laws--and more importantly, practices--vary by state...as well as by County and local municipality in some areas. If federal funding is involved, then it becomes a bit more standardized. Even with federal standards, though, I am sure that there can be a wide variation in the practices. When the State of Michigan condemned properties for a major highway in my area, some of their offers were grossly inadequate. There was a local attorney who specialized in cases involving eminent domain. He was able to secure some major adjustments in a number of condemnation cases. (But these were all big-dollar cases. You don't want to fight something in court if you're just disputing a small amount.)
Since this is just for a small portion of land, does the appraisal entail the home as well?
Is it typical for homeowner to get appraisal prior to being contacted by municipality?
How big is the portion they would be taking of your property. From what you indicated it is not very big.
The only thing they will be appraising is the value of the land, without improvements to the property.
You want to take so many square feet of land, and that is what determines the value, based on sq. ft needed, times the value by square foot of the lot.
Tell us how many sq. ft. they will be taking, for any advice to mean anything.
If it is only a very small portion of land, it may cost you more to fight for more money than you can get. I have seen where it cost more to fight for more money, than the highest possible value for the land.
How big is the portion they would be taking of your property.
Tell us how many sq. ft. they will be taking, for any advice to mean anything.
If it is only a very small portion of land, it may cost you more to fight for more money than you can get. I have seen where it cost more to fight for more money, than the highest possible value for the land.
Im realizing this now, you are correct. I have 0.75 of an acre and i think they might want 750 square ft. Using only the assessed value of the land i dont think its feasible to hirer an attorney. I live in a state where eminent domain says 150% for fair market value. I also live on a fixed income, hand to mouth.
Nobody threw out a ballpark figure on what an attorney or an appraisal costs... someone said earlier in this thread thats its 1000s of dollars for appraisal which i find hard to believe.
No one paid for my attorney when the State took a piece of a rental parcel I owned. I'm not complaining though because he was very knowledgeable and gave me good advice.
I suggest that you just talk with an attorney about this matter. Nothing really needs to be done until the City/State sends you an official notice of Condemnation. You need to know the details of EXACTLY what they plan to take and how much they are offering you for it. Then you can formulate your plan.
There is so much more that goes into appraising a portion of the land than simple mathematics. It all depends on the original size of the parcel and the size they want to take. Several issues come to mind, that need to be addressed:
Would the reduced lot size be below current zoning minimums?
Does it change your set back requirements?
How far would you now be to the road?
What does the impact of adding an extra lane of traffic do to the value?
Does it impact parking?
If the house were destroyed, could it be rebuilt on the smaller lot?
There are numerous other factors involved. The loss of the actual land is only a small part of the equation. Attempting to reduce it to a $/sf is insufficient.
There are only a handful of appraisers that specialize in this type of valuation, and they do not come cheap.
How big is the portion they would be taking of your property. From what you indicated it is not very big.
The only thing they will be appraising is the value of the land, without improvements to the property.
You want to take so many square feet of land, and that is what determines the value, based on sq. ft needed, times the value by square foot of the lot.
Tell us how many sq. ft. they will be taking, for any advice to mean anything.
If it is only a very small portion of land, it may cost you more to fight for more money than you can get. I have seen where it cost more to fight for more money, than the highest possible value for the land.
I disagree. It's not the value of what they TAKE. It's how much the taking reduces the value of your property. Sometimes, a relatively small taking will have a drastic impact on the value of what remains.
For example, suppose the street widening is going to take the front yard of your house right up to the porch steps. The value of the land taken may not be very much, but the taking sure as hell ruined the value of what you have left. Who would want a house with ZERO front yard?
The property owner is entitled to compensation for DAMAGES to what he currently owns, not the value of the miniscule amount of property that they take. "Damages" is defined as the difference in market value between what you own NOW and what you have left after the taking. Been there. Done that. Got the tee shirt.
With the OP owning over 30,000 square feet of land, loosing 750 sq ft of land, is not going to effect the usability of the rest of the property to any degree.
Lets imagine the total lot is 150 foot wide, so the actual needed to widen the road is going to be 5 feet off the front of the lot. That is not going to be any great reduction in the value of the property.
The OP does not have the money to fight for a big pay off, and all states and cities do not require the city or county to pay his fees to fight it.
Instead of worrying about it now, wait till he gets the offer is the best course to take, and then is the time to look at trying to get the amount offered raised.
Just to clarify... in regards to the "damages"... does an attorney or an appraiser determine that amount?
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