what happens? One of the “favored alternative” highway routes goes right through my neighborhood, and in fact encompasses every house here.
I have no clue what would happen if they do. . .I suppose they’d have to buy our house, but how do they figure out the value? Will we get screwed on it?
I don’t mind moving if I can afford it afterward, but our credit isn’t great and I don’t know how easy it would be to get another loan.
Don’t know the answer to your question, but I’m in nearly the same boat. A proposed Interstate bypass will go through or near my house if they ever get the money to build it. I tell you one thing - I’d rather it go through than near. My property value will go to nearly nill with all that noise from zooming trucks. I hope they buy it from me, rather than just make my home worth much less.
That’s what I’m hoping too, Fishhead. I have a map that shows the 2000 ft swath that the highway would have option to, and it includes my entire neighborhood. Unfortunately, I’m near the edge of it, though, so it’s possible that they could stay nearer the far border and miss me altogether, thus putting me just a hopskip&jump from a nice big ol’ 4 lane.
I’m just worried because our loan is not that old, our house needs a lot of repairs, and I don’t know if they’d give us enough to pay it off, much less put us into something comparable. Kind of scary, we have 4 kids to think of, so we can’t just put up in a little apartment for a while, either.
Good luck on “your” highway.
Might want to check with a real estate attourney in your area, IIRC they usually pay fair market value for the real estate they displace building freeways and such. If your worried you might consider having an appraisal done. It costs about $300 and should give you a good idea of the “fair market value” of your house. The appraiser can also give you an idea of where to make any repairs/changes that will give you maximum benefit so you can get a decent price for your home. Its amazing what $100 in paint can do to an appraisal.
“Will we get screwed on it?”
While there’s always exceptions, the general answer is no.
Usually, governments will try to buy land first before using their eminent domain power, and the price they offer is somewhat higher than market value to encourage people to sell voluntarily so they don’t have to go through the whole eminent domain procedure.
If the government does have to use eminent domain, the Fifth Amendment is clear that they must pay “just compensation” (Indiana’s constitution uses the same phrase, incidentally) and that term has been interpreted pretty thoroughly by the courts. A landowner can challenge a low price in court, introducing evidence such as that the land is worth more than the government’s offer, so you’re not at the mercy of the highway department. The mere prospect that the landowner can challenge the valuation, and therefore hold up the whole project, tends to keep government agencies erring on the side of caution (paying too much rather than too little). YMMV.
The cost of such a challenge may seem expensive, but Indiana law provides that if a court finds the land to be worth more than the agency’s offer (simplifying slightly), the landowner can collect his attorney fees up to $2500.
Also, there’s an Indiana law (common in many states) requiring an agency that is displacing someone to pay the reasonable expenses of finding a new residence and moving there.
“Will we get screwed on it?”
While there’s always exceptions, the general answer is no.
Usually, governments will try to buy land first before using their eminent domain power, and the price they offer is somewhat higher than market value to encourage people to sell voluntarily so they don’t have to go through the whole eminent domain procedure.
If the government does have to use eminent domain, the Fifth Amendment is clear that they must pay “just compensation” (Indiana’s constitution uses the same phrase, incidentally) and that term has been interpreted pretty thoroughly by the courts. A landowner can challenge a low price in court, introducing evidence such as that the land is worth more than the government’s offer, so you’re not at the mercy of the highway department. The mere prospect that the landowner can challenge the valuation, and therefore hold up the whole project, tends to keep government agencies erring on the side of caution (paying too much rather than too little). YMMV.
The cost of such a challenge may seem expensive, but Indiana law provides that if a court finds the land to be worth more than the agency’s offer (simplifying slightly), the landowner can collect his attorney fees up to $2500.
Also, there’s an Indiana law (common in many states) requiring an agency that is displacing someone to pay the reasonable expenses of finding a new residence and moving there.
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Damn double-post!
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In “introducing evidence such as that the land is worth…” the “such as” isn’t supposed to be there.
If you just want to get an idea of what your house is ‘worth’ ** but don’t want or can’t afford to talk to a real estate attorney, you could ask your friendly neighborhood real estate agent to do what is called a Competative Market Analysis (usually simply referred to as a CMA). That’s where they compare your house to other similar houses in your area that have sold recently, are for sale, or were withdrawn from the market. This gives you a good idea of what your house would probably sell for if you put it on the open market today. This would at least give you a pretty good indication of whether the state was offering you a ‘fair price’.
You can also seek a real estate appraisal from a licensed real estate appraisor, but he/she will charge you for it. I don’t know how much though.
Also, for what it’s worth, I concur with John Bredin, they probably aren’t going to screw you.
** When all is said and done, a thing is only actually worth what you can get somebody to pay you for it. A CMA, as mentioned above, tells you what people have been willing to pay for a house like yours in your general area recently, and as such, is just a highly educated guess, albeit one with a good deal of experience and sales data behind it.