Using and Understanding Easements to your Advantage

When first becoming involved in real estate investing, there are many mixed emotions; excitement, apprehension, and a down right nervousness, based on whether you are doing the right thing by investing in real estate, or if you have you made the right choice of property to invest in. When you become used to the of the real estate jargon that will come your way, it will not seem so intimidating and you will find your confidence and comfort begin to stabilize. One term that you may quite easily come across is "easements".

What are easements? It refers to property that is not actually owned by an individual, but they have a right to use it. So if you are becoming involved in an investment that has an easement clause to it then you need to consider some facts.

Right of Easement Everyone that owns a piece of property inherits the right to access when they purchase that property. If for some reason this right does not exist, perhaps because it is being blocked by adjacent properties, then a Court can order that a easement be created in order to allow the blocked property owner access to his property, even if means having to cross a property owned by a neighbor to the blocked property.

Conveyed Property Easement in Deed Let's assume you had a large parcel of land and you were going to sever the back section and sell this as a separate parcel of land. Keeping in mind the right of easement law, then the deed for this new parcel of land would have to include an easement clause. This is to protect the prospective purchaser's right to access his property.

Mutual Agreement Easements At one time it was common, and still is somewhat for two property owners to share something in common. Perhaps it could be a well, or even a common driveway. If both parties can agree, then an easement can be determined which can be agreed upon and written into the deed for future selling purposes, which would be beneficial to both property owners.

Public Good Easement This one is something to pay particular interest to especially if you get wind that in future years the government may be making a substantial change to the property it owns in close proximity to yours. For example, if you own a piece of property and a new highway is proposed near your property, then the government could demand an easement if it is a necessity for the good of that new highway, which would be for the good of the people. In this case you would have no legal recourse even if you did not agree with the findings.

Forcible Easement or Easement by Prescription One could possibly think of this as the old time squatter's rights. What it refers to is if you access your property by way of property that belongs to another individual that actually owns the land, and you are crossing with the owner's knowledge but no formal consent, then you may be able to claim permanent rights of easement. This is based on the fact that the property owner had knowledge of your use of his property but took no action to stop it.

As you can see there are many areas of concerns about easements, but not all bad. If the easements are in place and work to your advantage as the new property owner then this is a good condition for you. On the other hand, look carefully at any easements that are in place or could possibly become an order by law that could be detrimental to you as the new owner. If that possibility is not that significant to you, then you may be able to use it as leverage to get a lower price on the purchase.