I'm wondering what are the details about deed restrictions. My husband and I are going to retire from the military soon, we've bought houses before in the suburbs, but we want to buy 5-10 acres in NC or TN, and there are lots of deed restrictions. Who are they enforced by, can they be enforced, how strictly are they interpreted, why do they have them (don't they have zoning laws everywhere), etc. One place even said any livestock was acceptable except goats. Anyone?

-- Joan Murray (alandjoan@juno.com), October 12, 2000

Answers

joan,i dont know alot about this but i know alittle. when you see them in the paper work assume that they will be enforced and get every detail. we looked at a farm in pa this summer, it was a 30 ac. piece off of a 500 ac. farm the lady who owned it made up alist of restictions that would stay in the deed forever. she from her 3 million $ house did not want to see anything"offencive" . 1] colors had to be one of 5 2] no pole buildings 3] no more then 3 hogs 4] no mowing before 7 am on the weekends 5] no play toys in the front yard and the list went on and on. i just laughed but they would not sell unless we signed it. needless to say it is still for sale. just be real careful and get someone who knows law to read it over.

the oppisit is in our deed , it says we can farm any livestock we want, farm when we want and even land or fly planes over our place as long as they have to do w/ farming.

around here because of alot of new people moving in there is a piece of paper anyone moving into anew house next to a farm or w/ in a certain amout of feet must sign, it states that the buyers will not interfer w/ the farming and will not cause problems w/ the farming. it has gotten really built up around here and alot of old farms were being sued for things like smelling, noise and farming practices.

-- renee oneill (oneillsr@home.com), October 12, 2000.

Our property came with a deed restriction. The house had to be 2400 sq ft. and the original property owners had to okay the house plans. Now these people who put on the deed restrictions (to keep up the value of the house they were going to build), no longer want to live here and no longer care. The people next door (almost neighbors from hell) put up a 1800 sq ft house. No one checked. A phone call to complain did nothing. This will bring down the value of my house if I go to sell.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), October 12, 2000.

Hi Joan, I don't know which part of TN you're interested in, but I have a small place in the boonies (I like boonies) & when I asked the local gov't folks about building permits & covenants - a problem here in FL that I don't want to hear about when I finally do get to move - they looked at me like I had a snake on my head. I WAS encouraged to build well, make sure the electricity was done well & take care. Guess it depends where you want to build. Me? I've lived in FL most of my life & am tired of hearing all the covenant crap & horror stories about building permits. Good luck!!

-- K-K-K-Katie (yarnspinnerkt@hotmail.com), October 13, 2000.

Joan, we don't have zoning laws here (Texas) unless passed by the county or inside the city limits. We have no zoning restrictions in my county except where you can put liquor stores. I don't know about building codes---I don't ask. I believe if you have a contractor do it, there are building codes he has to comply with. Don't think do- it-yourselfers have to comply. Deed restrictions, as far as I can tell here, are for the "continuity" of the neighborhood. In other words, some of your neighbors there probably don't like goats. This restriction was likely placed on the deed by whoever sold off the land in smaller pieces for development. If I didn't like the restrictions, I'd keep looking. There is land available that you can still use as you see fit when you see fit.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), October 13, 2000.

If you stay out of 'developments' deed restrictions shouldn't be a problem. Just get enough property so it doesn't matter. I'd rather ensure I have enough land to make my own choices. Unless there is a really active association, usually after a few years and a number of houses change hands, enforcement generally goes out the window.

And my expericence - The best was 'you are allowed only 3 pets' and my response was 'okay, we'll buy here but you have to agree to come over and decide which 4 pets are to be killed and you must witness their disposal for verification purposes'. Needless to say their look of horror was priceless...

But this doesn't mean I DON'T like deed restrictions...Noooo...who me...?

j

-- j (jw_hsv@yahoo.com), October 13, 2000.

Be very careful about any deed restrictions on property you plan to purchase. It means what it says "restrictions". Around here, the main restriction is that some properties don't allow mobil homes. I find that the closer to town you are, the more restrictions. Zoning restrictions are different. That may mean the the property is zoned perhaps commercial and you can't have livestock on it, but if you stick to agricultural zoning, you should be okay. Always check with a realtor or lawyer to make sure before you purchase.

-- Mary in East TN (barnwood@preferred.com), October 13, 2000.

Joan, be very certain that you understand deed restrictions. Regardless how big a piece of land you buy. Some are fairly harmless, and some are unbelievably important.

For one thing, it is possible that the land you want to buy may not have mineral rights or timber rights. Make sure somebody, usually the former owner, or an owner before that, doesn't have the right to come on your property to remove timber or minerals.

I traded a guy next door. An acre or so of his for an equal amount of mine. He got a bette access, and I got a nice stretch of creek. A win win situation. But when I checked the title, before signing the papers, I discovered that this guy only owned 50% of the mineral rights on the land he wanted to trade me. I talked to a lawyer, who told me that the person who owned the other 50% could come and mine the gravel right out from under my house, should he feel mean enough. I talked to this man, and he gave me a quitclaim deed for the mineral rights. He was only intested in the mineral rights to the other 79 acres, and didn't want to cause a problem for me with my homesite.

A person I know in Humboldt County, California, who had been living in his home for many years, woke up one morning to the sound of cats and chainsaws. A large timber company was there to cut "their" trees. He never knew, in all the years he'd been living there, that he didn't own the trees on his own land.

Not to scare you, but please be cautious!

JOJ I'd recommend that before you buy any property you insist that a title insurance policy be issued, and that the title company go over every aspect of the property with you. You also might be wise to spend the money on a lawyer to go over the sale. You may not need to do this, but if there's a problem with the title, you would hate to lose your investment.

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), October 13, 2000.

Joan, I can only agree with the other responses to your questions. My husband and I were looking at 17 acres in the country in Texas. The realtor suggested we read the deed restrictions before we got too interested in the land. Only cattle or horses on the land, no sheep or goats (that's what I wanted), no business sign (I was thinking about starting an alterations business and the country road was perfect for it), any buildings had to be approved by the "architectural committee" (they would not have liked my stackwood house). My bloodpressure was rising though normally it is very low. When I read the part about "no male fowl" I looked very puzzled at my husband. He figured, I had no idea was the land owners intent was, so he informed me that we could not have "roosters". People want to move to the country but they don't want the country sounds or smells. That did it! We never inquired about the property again.

This incident was not isolated. We came across others. Deed restrictions are important up to a point. If the restrictions are reasonable, not if they don't allow me to live off the land.

Be careful and ask for the deed restrictions before you sign any papers. This is important for all real estate transactions.

Good luck on your venture. Hopefully you are luckier than we were. Gerhild

-- Gerhild Turner (turner72@earthlink.net), October 14, 2000.

I was doing a newspaper interview yesterday and the retired minister I was interferring happened to mention that his daughter, who has always lived in a mobile home on the farm property AND THOUGHT she would be moving her mobile home to the new farm they bought, CAN'T because the people who owned the farm TWO OWNERS AGO put restrictions in the deed that NO ONE can ever put a mobile home on it. So the poor girl had to go and find a small lot to put her mobile home on.

This is in an unzoned REALLY rural area. So you need to look at deed restrictions carefully!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), October 18, 2000.