Property Lines

Roughly 6 years ago my husband and I purchased property in Neosho, MO. The real estate agent showed us the property and where the property lines were. At that time we saw no need to survey the land and money was tight. The property has a small home which we have rented out for the last 5 1/2 years. Now we are ready to tear the house down and build a new house on the property for us to live in. We recently had the land surveyed and found out we actually own about half of what the agent told us we owned and the railroad owns the other part. (We have maintained both parts). The survey also shows that the railroad owns approx. one half of the house! My questions are: 1. Do we have any action against the real estate agent or the person that sold the house (the owner financed loan is paid off)?
2. We have title insurance, does that help with the house being on two different properties?
3. Who owns the house? Do we only own half? What about tearing it down to rebuild?
As you can see we have a mess! Any help would be appreciated!!

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chocolatefreak:
Roughly 6 years ago my husband and I purchased property in Neosho, MO. The real estate agent showed us the property and where the property lines were. At that time we saw no need to survey the land and money was tight. The property has a small home which we have rented out for the last 5 1/2 years. Now we are ready to tear the house down and build a new house on the property for us to live in. We recently had the land surveyed and found out we actually own about half of what the agent told us we owned and the railroad owns the other part. (We have maintained both parts). The survey also shows that the railroad owns approx. one half of the house! My questions are: 1. Do we have any action against the real estate agent or the person that sold the house (the owner financed loan is paid off)?
2. We have title insurance, does that help with the house being on two different properties?
3. Who owns the house? Do we only own half? What about tearing it down to rebuild?
As you can see we have a mess! Any help would be appreciated!!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

1. You may have a cause of action against the Seller and the real estate agent for misrepresentation, but since you waived the survey, you did not complete due diligence to mitigate. In other words, they will say that had to ordered the survey you would have known about the problems up front, but because you did not want to pay for it, it is your fault.

2. Title insurance will help if the title company insured the entire parcel via legal description and ALTA policy.

3. From a legal standpoint, you own the house to your property line and the RR company owns the portion of the house that is on their property. Would not this be a moot point if the house will be demolished? You just build the new house on and within the correct property using the current survey map.

[This message has been edited by HomeGuru (edited October 21, 2000).]

Even if the seller didn't know about the railroad ownership, you may be able to sue seller for a partial refund in price. It's a complicated matter so talk to a real estate attorney.

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws. ppls@qwest.net - please include some facts so I know who you are!