Eminent Domain

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wasilvers

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Sussex, WI
Anyone have any expereince with eminent domain? The city I live in is planning a redevelopment and now has 2 alternatives to implimentation of the 'master plan'. Each of these require my house - one with a business replacing it, one with a road replacing it. I know nothing about the process and they haven't contacted me yet. But I found the plans online from the special committee reports. I get my first look at them in 3 weeks. But every city official or candidate has said they want this, so it will happen. They paid the engineers, they are presenting plans to the public for comment before choosing the alternative.

So since they want my house, is the process difficult to negotiate through? Is there even any negotiation? I bought my house for only $165k 5 years ago which was $50k cheaper than ANYTHING else in town (the lady wanted out because of a divorce). It is dual zoned for business or residential - which is why I bought it. Before I switched to my job now, I was going to open my office out of that location. To date, I just live there and only do work for friends and family from the house. It used to be dentist office before the last lady renovated it. With the market dropping, do they pay you decent for the house or is it their own real estate tax value (which they have dropped every year since they decided they needed this change)? Can you live there till they knock it down?

I feel so lost now, they're taking MY HOUSE :(
 
Don't have any first hand experience, but I do have a friend who's parents went through it....State (California) built a new four-lane highway and it was going to pass directly through their property. This was about 7-8 years ago....State made them a direct offer, basically "market value" as decided by State hired appraisers...My friends parents hired their own appraiser and submitted a counter offer. They haggled a bit and eventually settled on a number that was a few thousand above the original (but a few thousand below their own). They settled the matter in a manner of a few months, but their lawyer advised them that the State was going to take the property eventually anyway, so don't get too caught up in trying to drag it out.


and you can thank the Supreme Court (Kelo v New London) for your predicament....before that, eminent domain applied only to govt projects....now even private businesses can take your property if the govt decides your place is "blight"....BS.
 
lckstckn2smknbrls said:
Insurance fire. :wink: :wink:

OR... Get a lawyer, now, don't wait....... This happened to friends of mine a few years ago. Ended up losing a business that 3 generations of the family had built up.
 
Any chance your house is old enough or unique enough in some way to try to get it registered as "Historic?" If so, you might find some civic groups that will support your cause. But even so, there's gonna be a lawyer. That situation sucks. Good luck.
 
Having some knowledge of these sorts of mess I would suggest: Get an apraisal right away....Take pictures of everything, inside and outside your home including any property lines you know of and of course out buildings.....these may help in showing the true value of your home when that time comes.....You will probably eventually need a lawyer but investagate the possibility of finding and Arbratrator... They sometimes do better at getting fair prices than do lawyers....Start looking for a different home. If it comes down to your having to move you want to have a good idea of whats available for what you will probably have to spend..Check with your loan company if you have one and ask one of their officers how it is handled with circumstances like yours... Just cover as many basses as you can... everyone hates surprises, try and keep those at a min.
Oh yeah, and pray for a happy ending.
good luck
peace
 
Sucks man. But I would use it as an opportunity to sell your house in a crappy market. Look on the bright side it is a buyers market and you have a guaranteed sale. Sounds like you will come out money ahead. A good lawyer in this field sounds like money well spent.
 
To get a quick look see what your house might be worth, look at Zillow.com. Many mortgage companies look at the value in Zillow when refinancing mortgages.
 
The neighborhood where my son bought his house last year went through the same thing. The city wanted to build a new shopping center and a new freeway on/off ramp which would have taken many houses and a golf course. The local residences did a study and pointed out that there were already many retail and office buildings around that weren't 100% occupied. The on/off ramp wouldn't actually help either. I would bet that the duffers had a lot to say too!
 

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