Easement Trouble At An RV Park

A developer calls and tells me my RV park’s main water line is six feet onto their land. That’s the kind of sentence that can wreck your day fast, especially when they’re building a subdivision road right on the property line and they want you to “just move it.”

I walk you through exactly how I handled it: asking for their survey and reference points, pulling my own deed records and county land records, and trying to understand whether an easement exists even when the utility map shows nothing. We talk about the real-world gap between real estate due diligence and real estate reality, because sometimes a hidden utility line has been serving tenants for years and nobody has a clean paper trail to prove it. From there, it becomes less about being “right” and more about protecting water service, protecting equity, and avoiding the money pit of legal fees.

Then we get into the negotiation. I share the win-win offer I made, why I refused to pay for the full install, and how I landed on a $5,000 compromise that gets a brand-new water line while the developer already has crews and trenching equipment on site. I also share the operating mindset that keeps problems from spiraling: slow down, regulate emotions, and choose the most economical solution that still protects your interests. Finally, I explain how I use AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude as a thought partner to compare surveys, deeds, and scenarios, without treating it like legal advice.

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Transcript

The Water Line Surprise

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So I got a call from a developer, and they said that my main water line was on their land next door for one of my RV parks. You can imagine like the initial feeling that gave me, right? I was like, damn. Um, are you sure? And they sent me pictures. He's like, look, we're building a road next door. And the sucky thing is, is um, this road's like an emergency evacuation road, like it won't even be used. But, you know, the powers that be, you know, that are allowing us to build this subdivision, city, county, all the stuff, they say that we have to have an emergency route, and that goes right uh next to your property, like right on the line of your property. And when we got the like digging and trenching and all that to get this thing ready, because they're making us have a water line that we're not going to use either. Your water line overlapped six feet on our property. Like, man, well, and they're like, you need to move it, and that's just not how I operate. Like, I need all the facts and need to figure it out. And my first thought was this water line's been there forever. I probably have some easement rights, but I didn't know because the original utility map um that we were given when we bought the park didn't show that waterline. Didn't show it, right? Um, this was this is the water line that serves like the right side of our park. Now there's another one that runs right through the middle of the park, which I guess would be the main, but this one ties off to it and serves the the right side of the park, or half of the right side of the park. Anyways, um, I'm like, all right, well, send me send me your survey, send me the points you're using of reference. Let's make sure it's actually on your property line. Um, I'll get mine, and you know, I'll pull up the easements, you know, deed, all of the stuff, all the paperwork, which you can easily do um on the county, you know, if you just you can Google just an easy way if you want to know this stuff about a property you own or looking into, you can Google like land records in whatever county and just go through there and and all this stuff gets filed after easements and all that stuff. Anyways, there was no there was no easement, there was no water line showing there. There was a utility easement for like uh electric, but nothing for you know, just normal, but nothing for this water line, which in my mind I told this, you know, we went back and forth for a while, and I was like, look, I um I think this is an easement. You know, I regardless if it's recorded, I still believe it's an easement because the people we bought this from owned all of that land that you, you know, they sold it off when they they sold this that part of that land to you, but they sold the park to us, but it was under common ownership whenever they build this park, right? So like they might have not have ever intended or even looked when they put that water line there, intended to sell that portion of the land, and it got overlooked. But regardless, it's still an easement. Now, I'm not an attorney, I don't know if I'd win that argument uh because there's like easement by necessities, isn't really necessary if it could be rerouted, like all the stuff. I don't know if I'd win, but it's enough for an argument.

Paperwork Checks And Easement Talk

SPEAKER_00 3:36

And they took it to their attorney, I'm assuming, and they were like, you know, they just said, Well, what do you want to do? And I said, Look, I've got a proposal because like nobody wins in a lawsuit, nobody wins paying legal. I don't say nobody, people do win, but I'm saying this kind of thing. You know, it's like, all right, it's just like any sales or anything. It's like we both how do we both win, right? They need this subdivision to go right, they need our cooperation because they're building a road right next to it. They, you know, they don't need to be shut down. They they need our cooperation and we need them, you know, all the stuff. And they need that waterline move before they could build the road. So I'm not in a huge rush at this point. They are. So I'm like, well, look, here's what I'll propose. I'll pay for the materials. And since y'all are gonna be trenching it already, like you're already trenching uh uh uh the road up, you're gonna be digging the road up, you're gonna be trenching your own water line while you're doing that, while you have the crews out there, why don't you go ahead and the machinery? Why don't you go ahead and trench me a new water line, right? Because you're already there. Which would be, you know, because if you hire people to do stuff, just getting them out there, the manpower and the equipment alone is a big charge, let alone the work. So I was like, y'all go ahead and do that. Y'all go ahead and buy the pipe, right? Y'all have the installers there already, you're already building your own. Just get after it, right? Uh half a day's work, whatever. Put that water line in, and I'll pay for the materials. And they came back and they were like, Well, we think you should pay for the install and the materials, so we want $8,000. Which, by the way, that's really cheap to get out of this if I was not in the right. I don't know if I was right, wrong, if I would win, not. I wasn't, I didn't want to pay illegal to find out. And I'm like, look, I'm not, and me knowing, like, I want you to understand my my uh thought process here. I know that they really need this big subdivision in. This is pennies compared to what they're about to spend, right? This doesn't even dent in a budget like that. They don't, this is like a a breeze, like legit, like a gnat, right? Problem at this point. And I'm like, look, I told you I pay for materials. I'm not gonna pay for the install. Here's what I'll do. Instead of giving me receipts and doing all this stuff, I'll give you $5,000. I'll pay y'all $5,000 towards the materials. Y'all do the rest.

Negotiating A Win-Win Fix

SPEAKER_00 6:16

And they came back later in the day and they're like, you gotta do it. We don't want any problems. Like, thanks for working with us. And by the way, I went out there, I should, I should have, I gotta recap real quick because I just went to the end of the story, but I did go out there two weeks later, because this went on for a while, and I was like, I'm not going out there until we can figure all this out. Because I'm not gonna go out there, it's an hour for me, waste my time, waste yours. Let's come up with somewhat of an understanding of what actually is going on because right now all I have is pictures and what where you think this is, it might not even be on your land. How do we even know that? Right? That's my thought process. So I went and met them out there, and sure as hell, like I looked at all the paperwork. It looked like you know, it was overlapping, like they said. So I see where they came up with that. I didn't get a surveyor to verify, but there are markings, GPS coordinates. It was really close. But, you know, long story short, when I looked at it and I met with them, I told them what I'd do then. At the time in person, they were like, no, this is your problem. And I'm like, whatever. Like, let me know what you decide. Because I proposed that in person. And I just left it at that. I wasn't combative. I'm just like, I'm being a friendly neighbor. You need this done, I don't. And you can't interrupt my waterline and serving tenants and been serving tenants since you bought this property. So we're in a little predicament, right? So, anyways, fast forward, really cool working with them though. Not combative. Like they understood where I was at, I understood where they were at. We compromised. So I think they're putting in the water line next week. I'm gonna pay five grand, which in the scheme of things, I'm getting a you know, if you look at it on a positive note, I'm getting a brand new water line, right? For five grand, you know, and it is what it is, stuff

Operating Mindset For Real Estate Problems

SPEAKER_00 8:05

happens. And in real estate, yeah, there's a lot of segments, like, yeah, you need to you need to buy right, right? They say you make money when you buy, which is which is true. You need to buy right. It gives you exits also, uh, gives you some cushion, some leverage if you need it, equity to pull out if you need it, whatever. Lots of cool stuff if you buy right. But when you buy right, then you have to operate right as well. And a lot part uh part of operating is systems processes, thought processes, regulating emotions. Things come up. You're you are bound and turn like it's it's inevitable, probably. I don't want to say that because maybe not, but you're gonna run into county, city, neighbor, tenant, some sort of issues. And I think the proper mindset is like, how can I make a win-win? And what do I do to protect my capital, my equity, my interests, everything, solve the problem in the most economical way that benefits everybody? What is the best solution? And sometimes you just gotta stop and kind of like slow down a bit and think about what the hell's going on, what what is actually happening, right? And instead of just acting emotionally and um acting like right then and there, like take a beat.

Using AI Tools Plus Closing

SPEAKER_00 9:35

It's okay to be like, hey, I gotta think about this, right? And think through all the solutions. And what's cool these days is we have like Chad GPT, Claude, all that stuff. And what you can do is, I'm not like telling you to do this. I'm I'm not, this isn't legal advice, this is none of that. This is just what I do, right? Because I we have these tools at our disposal. Like during this, like I would pull all the deed records, I would pull the surveys, apply, put it up against theirs, put it in claw, and be like, hey, can you show me this and that, and what do you think? And this is what I think, and play ping pong, right? With AI. Not that it's right, you don't take all that as gospel, but it's cool that we have those tools this day and age. You know, just to give you another set of eyes. I think like a partner, right? An AI partner. You know, I I'd sure as hell put all this stuff in there and to make sure it could like line things up with me and uh, you know, all that stuff. So, anyways, hope this uh hope this helps if you ever run into this kind of stuff. I hope you don't. But if you buy enough real estate, you run across stuff. It is what it is. You know, we get paid for solving problems. Sometimes the problems linger or pop up after the fact, you know. There's nothing we could have done on our due diligence, you know, to know that water line was there. We had the utility map, it didn't show. Right? We're not gonna go dig up all the utilities to see if somebody left them out. That'd be uh crazy, right? So, like I said, things pop up, things happen, you deal with them the best you can, and you roll, right? There's a positive in everything. Now I got a good relationship with the subdivision next door. Hell, maybe if their subdivision just pops, they want to buy my park for twice what I bought it for. Who knows? Right? I got a good relationship with them. I'm on a texting basis, and I think they respect me because I held my ground and negotiated from a calm place, and we came to an agreement and we're still friends, right? I don't know how you can win more than that. So thank you for hopping on here. My name is Travis Wells. This is the Property Profits Podcast. And if you enjoyed this, not running any paid ads, none of that stuff, refer to a friend, a family member, uh, an investor, an aspiring investor. If you're looking to get into the mobile home park or RV park space and you don't have a park currently, I've got a good one-on-one program that I'll walk you through step by step. It is a 12-week program. There's a curriculum, it's me and you one-on-one. And it will start in about four weeks, four to five weeks. So if you're interested in that, hit me up. The best place to get me is on Facebook. Just DM me. If you're not already following me, follow me. I'm giving free free uh stuff every day, free advice, free documentation of my journey, whatever. You know, I'm hoping that I can document my journey and you can learn from there. You know, good, bad, ugly. Uh, awesome stuff we can win together. And our YouTube channel, give it some love, uh, Instagram, all that stuff. That being said, see you next time.