Electric Pole in Middle of Back Yard (Center: affordable house, landscaping)

[houston-nomad]

I'd call that a problem.

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

If I were building a new house in a new development, however, I'd expect and demand underground utilities.

I agree with the sentiment that a builder who is trying to pull a fast one on you before the foundation has even been poured is not someone you want to be doing business with.

That was what I had been expecting too, since it's a national builder and I had thought they would know better.

I asked the sales rep that had sold us the house, and she said that those poles are permanent and there is no way to move them. I would have thought that a big builder like them would have sway with the utility company though, especially since construction has barely started.

[airdrawndagger]

Oof.

The question becomes, do you think the pole will decrease the resale value of your house by >$2000 (earnest money)? I suspect the answer is yes, but will let others weigh in. Of course there is more to consider than just resale - would you be OK with the sight of it in your backyard if you choose to proceed? Are you OK with the time sink if you walk away? Sorry about this, OP.

[crone]

I would expect utility poles in development before the 70s-80s. Some municipalities require underground. But, that too, depends.

Houston is not on solid rock, so most new communities are underground. IDK what the storm loss is to the companies here. So many utilities prefer poles. Underground requires more maintenance.

But back to your builder. You should have been told of the pending pole. Just my .02.

[astrohip]

If your yard ended where the others appear to end, it probably wouldn't matter. Notice there is another pole in the exact same position, a couple lots down. But it appears your yard goes farther back than your neighbors, in which case it is a deal breaker. If this is true (your yard is deeper), then I would go to the builder and ask for redress.

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by astrohip

If your yard ended where the others appear to end, it probably wouldn't matter. Notice there is another pole in the exact same position, a couple lots down. But it appears your yard goes farther back than your neighbors, in which case it is a deal breaker. If this is true (your yard is deeper), then I would go to the builder and ask for redress.

Yes, definitely. Our yard goes a little deeper so the pole ends up being in the middle rather than at the end of the property.

I did actually check out our neighbor's pole (I should have remembered to take a picture, drat) and they at least gave them the courtesy of putting the pole in between two of the properties, rather than sticking it directly behind one like they did with our pole.

Also, like I said, originally this pole was also sitting off to the side of our property line (pictured below, which was taken in June) since it was to the left of the green box. My guess is they moved it up to make perpendicular to the other pole you can see farther off.

[houston-nomad]

Honestly, it looks like the development was poorly planned, and they intentionally misled you with that green post when you were buying to hide their poor planning. I'd definitely walk away.

[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by crono_clone

Hi everyone,

Our builder finally started construction on a new home that we had been contracted for, and one thing I noticed is that there's now a power pole right in the middle of what would be our back yard.

I knew there was a utility easement there in the middle of our back yard based on the lot drawing they had sent us; but in previous pics of the lot that I had taken a couple of months ago, the pole was the the left of a green utility box on our property which would put it outside of our backyard and pretty much in between me and our neighbor to the left. So all I was expecting on our easement was maybe overhead power lines and that's it.

But now, the pole has clearly been moved to the right of the utility box which places it square in the middle of our already small back yard and making it look even smaller -- not to mention probably drastically affecting our property value.

So what can I do here? Should I just wait for construction to finish to see if they'll move the pole again? Should I call the utility company now and ask them to move it? Or should I just bite the bullet and say goodbye to my earnest money but at least get to walk away from a house that I probably won't be able to re-sell later?

I grew up in a home that had a pole in the middle of the back yard and another in the front quarter of the front yard.

My mother called us in and had us standing looking out the screen door as a bad thunderstorm hit. Suddenly all out hair stood up on our heads and we heard a loud buzzing...the a lightning bolt hit the back yard pole. Fantastic loud sound...youngest brother could not hear for a couple of minutes. And the whole house and yard reeked of ozone. The pole lost three or four feet and was burning.

Another thing about that backyard was it terminated in a railroad track. Very seldom used side track. 3 or 4 trains a week and generally very slow. But the time we turned teenagers we were all expert at hoping it even though it was absolutely banned by all the parents. Also used it to smash coins to two or three times their original size.

The front yard pole was actually a neighborhood asset. It was third base in the street baseball diamond. Our parents in the late afternoon would often sit on the porch and watch the game. It was also used in other kid games.

[WRM20]

I don't think the utility company had a lot of choice there. They could not really run the lines diagonally across the property to the back and left to get to the poles that run straight back from the property, as there's no easement there. If I am correct on the location, your lot runs East to West, and there is another platted lot that runs North to South behind it. There is a 10 foot wide easement(called a reservation on HCAD) that runs 10 feet into your lot from the South. Another 10 foot easement intersects that, and runs West behind the other lot. I don't think you are going to get much traction having the pole moved, especially since it's been set already, and appears to be in the middle of the easement.

[Seguinite]

Isn't the green box for your electric? Doesn't look like those are fed from the overhead, so that pole may have nothing to do with you other than the unfortunate placement in your easement so an older existing neighborhood can have power (and it may have nothing at all to do with the builder).

I'd probably be irritated as well if I felt 'mislead', but I'd think the easement probably trumps any rights to complain about it now. It wouldn't be a major consideration for me as a buyer if you were selling it. Millions of people grew up with power/telephone poles in the yard.