Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site I am gonna do it again.

We got about 6 inches of rain Friday so that will slow things down but hopefully we start digging the pond in about 10 days.

Well it dried up so we decided to do a little burning. They should start the house pad this week hopefully.

I have been working on getting the utility right of way and just got word that the land owner said "he isn't interested in giving us one".
That being said the guy "land manager" said to make them an offer and
see what happens.The right of way will be 30x550 and i have no idea what to offer.

Did you buy the land from the guy that you need to get the easement from? If so the easement may be implied(it is in Va.). If you bought it from someone else without any easement, you are at the mercy of your neighbor. Ideally you should have taken care of this before taking possession of your land. Good luck.

Well the land manager is just trying to squeeze me for the most amount of money he can i made an offer so we will see. Its funny how people will treat you when they know you have to have what they have. I have known the land manager for a real long time and he has been real slow moving on the right of way. I am sure he gets a percentage of any deals he makes and i always have to contact him he will never return my phone calls. I have been trying to keep calm about it but he is really pushing it. I have a few things up my sleeve so i will just see how it plays out with my offer.

Not knowing the people involved, it is tough for me to comment.
However, that's never stopped me.

It is my observation that goods and services always chase $. It is seldom the other way around.

If you know what the land manager like(i.e. guns or nice fishing stuff) get it and invite him over for a visit. After he sees the gun or whatever tell him it is his after you close on the easement. You need to keep your cool and not gripe off the person till you close on this. I have closed several deals with this method of horse trading. You need to get a good real estate lawyer if you buy property. Good luck.

Well were still dealing with the right of way i am trying to be nice but i am pretty sure the land manager is just jerking me around. HE doesn't return phone calls, i always have to run to his office to get any answers. I talked to him yesterday and he said he spoke to the guy that can make the decision and after asking about the right away at 5.00 per foot(3,000 robbery in my book but he said that would get it done)the guy didn't respond to him and just started talking about something else. That didn't sound right at all but who knows. Then the land manager said that this guy was leaving at the end of this month and a new guy was coming in to take over and he would talk to the new guy about the right away. I am pretty sure its all BS but if i don't
get an answer by the end of next month i am going to hire a lawyer and
get it done.

I'm not really getting the whole picture here, maybe it is only me. You own property that you are building a pond on. I assume you have access to the property via a road. You need a utililty right of way because there is no service from the road and its not feasible to bring it to your entrance?

Then what about this land manager? Why do you have to go thru him to the actual landowner? Sounds like he is more of a lawyer to the land owner.

That's $5.00 per lineal ft. I assume? (sq. ft. would be a tad over that $3000 figure :o) And there's a NEW guy coming to take over at the end of the month? Is this an individual that you're dealing with, or some type of corporate entity?

Its a bank that owns the property that i have to cross its an investment for them. The land manager is local and the bank is in dallas
the land manager answers to the guy who works for the bank. The property is 4 miles off the beaten path power has to come across them there is no other way as they own all the property around me.Its 5.00 per running feet.

Instead of dealing with the land manager, talk directly to the guy who can say yes or no. And when he does say yes, get it in writing. If the manager won't give you the guys name/number, I'm sure you could dig it up yourself if you know the banks name. It will take some phone calls on your part.

Maybe if you buried the line they would talk. Just throwing it out there. The land owner next to me wanted to run a wire across my property and could not understand why I objected. I have buried every line on my property in heavy duty conduit so I would not have to look at ugly wires. I told him if he would bury it we would talk. No answer yet.

Going under ground is not an option. I am not sure what the problem is i am guessing the land manager. Giving utility right of way is a pretty common practice and is normally painless. It might take a little longer
but i will get it. I dont think they want to go to court and explain why they refuse to give a "good ole boy" the right to get power to his house. I have been nice and polite but if i get another BS story when the new guy takes over i will have a lawyer contact the company directly.

Is going to court a guarantee that you will get your access? In other words, do they HAVE to allow it??

If they aren't required by law to do so, I'm not so sure I would be confident in obtaining it....'good ole boy' or not...

In Louisiana you can't deny someone power or any other utility. Its not like i am trying to cross 6000 feet of prime property to power up a some big business that will make billions of dollars. Its not going to look good in court when i have offered to pay top dollar for the right of way and they just didnt respond. When all else has failed i have no other option but to sue them i have tried all other avenues.

I'll second the suggestion above re: finding the actual person who has the ability to say yes or no. Face to face if possible. It's really easy for bureaucrats/bank officers/paper pushers to ignore an issue when it's an email or a voicemail. When it's a person standing in your office (being polite and logical but firm) it's usually much more productive.

I'm like Sparkplug, I question whether they "have to" give it to you. Around me, the only way you give it is thru imminent domain, for the greater good of the people ( not individuals). I would have to go up my driveway owned access, and pay the utilities to bring it to that driveway, no matter the cost. I assume you also have a driveway into the property that you own.

Now sometimes a lease can be worked out with a neighbor, and that is usually at a cheaper price than what it costs to bring the utilities to the owned entrance. Not to be callused about your situation, but I don't easily agree to give right-aways onto my property, and can't blame others for doing so too.

It really does sound like the land manager is the problem. If it goes to court, the bank will probably just say they had no idea what the middle man was doing and get away with it. I agree with every one else on the fact that you should first walk into the bank office and get it worked out.

When i go talk to the lawyer i am going to have him contact the bank and see if they are aware of whats going on. If they don't know about
whats going on than we will go from there. If they say we dont want to give it then we will sue. I have found that this company refused to give a few guys a road right of way to some property and they sued and
got the right of way. The piece of property i need to cross is at the end of their property line its just grown up and and really nothing there.

Im with DD1

The dirt guy is suppose to start the house pad this morning, no rain till Friday so hopefully a lot will be done in the next few days. He said he can move 100 loads of dirt per day with 2 trucks.

So you're absolutely positive you will get the utilities right of way then? Not trying to be negative, but if it were me I wouldn't put one more hour of labor, or spend one more dollar out there until I knew.

It just seems logical to me to find out first, before moving ahead.

We will get it, i don't think the land guy has even contacted the bank that owns it.I talked to him this morning and he said he had a call into the new guy that is now running the show. I am only going to contact him once more then i will turn it over to an attorney. I am not going anywhere with this guy but he has till the 14th of this month then i will move forward. When a business has large tracks of land this is standard business giving right of ways and doing oil leases and pipeline right of ways that one way they make a living.

They certainly CAN make money that way.....but do they HAVE to?? And, if they have to, does the court set the price, or can they say: "Sure, you can have a right of way....for this $$$$$$ amount? After all, technically they would be offering you the ROW, just like the court said, but the price could be exorbitant.

I am going to stay positive, of course anything can happen who knows. This project will happen and this time next year i will be looking at my pond and new house WITH POWER. It almost seems that people want to see me fail on here whatever happened to support the little guy. I was raised to help my neighbors and if the roles were reversed i would give the right of way for free!