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Platz
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2013 04:55pm
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Hi Guys / Gals,
I wanted everyone's opinion in with the questions I want to ask a realtor of a parcel of land I may be interested in.
It's over 100 acres, in an unincorporated municipality (no building permits required), no roads (just lumber roads), no services. I'm not interested in roads or services, I can manage on my own. I do plan on getting Title Insurance to cover my arse. It will basically state that what the seller is selling me is true. For example, ownership of surface rights, mineral rights, all trees, etc.
Here's what I've got so far:
1 - Is the title to the property clear (free of liens, easements, and other encumbrances)? If so, is there a Warranty Deed available?
2 - Is the property surveyed? If so, is there a Surveyor's Real Property Report?
3 - What are the zoning and/or deed restrictions on this property, if any?
4 - Why is the seller selling?
My other concerns regard easement of Crown Land for a pathway to the property and any potential oil pipe future projects near the property.
Any further suggestions would be helpful.
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WY_mark
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2013 07:30pm
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what kind of water rights or restrictions are there, who owns the mineral rights. have other land owners found easy/good/reliable water in the area? how deep is the average well?
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Platz
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2013 08:43pm
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Hi WY_mark,
Regarding mineral rights....the property of interest is one where the owner owns the mineral rights. In my opinion, a must have.
Regarding water....I plan on collecting rainwater and storing it for drinking, primary. Still, I don't know the details yet. I need to research this topic but thanks for your input.
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Platz
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2013 11:04pm
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I'd thought I'd take the opportunity in this thread to ask people's opinion whether they feel it's necessary to have a lawyer deal with the transaction. My thoughts are that with the above questions, title insurance, knowing about land transfer tax, and requesting seeing the property in person first as a condition before making the final decision to the purchase, I could handle the transaction.
I'm sure everyone will want to jump on me to get a lawyer cause that's what we've all been told to do instead of educating ourselves but before you do that, please read what this post covers to understand how I aim to tackle this business transaction.
Please don't tell me that a lawyer just knows more about this topic, I mean they learned it so why can't we do the same together?
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Truecabin
Member
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# Posted: 8 Aug 2013 12:51am
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not any lawyer but a lawyer who has experience solving problems with rural properties could know more than you will learn in your next 5 land purchases
it depends how important the rights are for this purchase
i think if you have time and the inclination to find all the important questions you can get close enough with no lawyer you can take your chances too most likely theres no problem
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Platz
Member
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# Posted: 8 Aug 2013 08:32am
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Regarding the necessity of a lawyer to transfer the title, I came across this site provided by the Government of Ontario which contains guides for completing such a transaction. URL
From what I see so far, there are several details that need to be covered. I feel that these guides could be used to self educate oneself but it still lends itself to someone with experience to accomplish it in a timely manner. Damn, looks like having a lawyer at least as a guide would be beneficial.
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TheWildMan
Member
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# Posted: 9 Aug 2013 06:11pm
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you should always ask to be sure the cabin will not be built on an ancient Indian burial ground, the hauntings will keep you company but they get tiresome after a while
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Rossman
Member
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# Posted: 9 Aug 2013 08:15pm
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You're not really saving much by cutting a lawyer out of the equation. It was around a grand or so when we bought our property as I recall...not much percentage-wise...
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Platz
Member
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# Posted: 10 Aug 2013 02:43pm
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The goal isn't to save money but to expand my knowledge and bring the ownership of the land closer to heart by being involved in the legal aspect. We're all to comfortable handing over money in order to make "something" happen. We don't care about the details, just the goal...the journey can also be fun!
That being said, I certainly plan on using a lawyer as a consultant just to double check the contracts drafted and any thing else I might have slipped on. In the end I may only save ~$400 but that's $400 that can be put towards Title Search, Title Insurance and Title Registration.
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:06am
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Have you ever heard the term"buyer beware"? You should hire a lawyer have your lawyer read the contracts and be there for closing. There is no way you will become as knowable as a real estate attorney in the short time you have allotted.
Now I know that is not what you want to hear. It's your money and you need to watch out for it!
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OwenChristensen
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:07pm
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Know legal property descriptions. It's something everyone should understand. At a lawyer's office during a closing I read the legal description and it didn't jive with what I thought it should be. I pointed it out that it was wrong. The lawyer said he could fix it later, I grabbed the check back and said, it's not a legal transfer if the description is of someone else's property or has been changed after the fact.
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Platz
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:29pm
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silverwaterlady....Yes, as I mentioned, I plan on using a lawyer as a consultant to double check the contracts drafted (I'm currently creating an Agreement of Purchase and Sale which really forces you to understand the contract) and anything else where legal authority is required. For example, electronic title registration requires authorization as the following states "The Director has authority under the Land Registration Reform Act to authorize persons to access the electronic land registration system to register documents and establish the manner in which the authorization is assigned to those persons. "...more can be found here URL
Regarding "buyer beware"....realize that it also covers the lawyer which you are buying. It's not true that if the lawyer screws up you're covered, they have clauses that covers their arse. Title insurance helps in that area but again, it's coverage is only as good as the drawn up contract. I know that I can become just as knowledgeable as required for the task in the given time frame because I'm dictating the time frame in the agreement, provided the Seller agrees to it.
Some people are still missing the point....empower yourself with knowledge. The 1% prefer that we all just hand over our money without understanding what we are buying. Lawyers are people like us, they just know something we haven't learned yet but are just as capable of learning and practicing, especially with the aid of the internet as a resource.
I'll have to create a thread outlining the process to show the masses that "we have the power". 
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Platz
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2013 12:31pm
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OwenChristensen...thanks for your example....Knowledge is power.
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2013 07:45pm
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Well in our case our lawyer was a dear life long friend.We were lucky.
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neb
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2013 08:08pm
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Mineral right could be hard to get and may have to pay more for them. Is there any pipe lines etc. Get land discription and title and have a lawyer take a look at it. All easements and history for this land should be recorded and that needs to be gone through very closely.
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