The Path to Property Ownership: We have a Closing Date!
Holy Moly… has this been a journey! We put an offer on the property on D road contingent on the subdivision of the property. Our offer was accepted, and the subdivision process started, and what a slow process it was! First the seller hand to hire a Civil engineer to draft plans for the road. This was our first challenge; the Civil engineer prolonged the process, and the seller hired a new Civil engineer, and the plans were drafted and submitted. A bit of back story regarding the road. For the property to be subdivided the second parcel of land (a little over 11 acres) needs to have access to a main county road. To gain this access, an easement has to be granted (by us – the other property owners) to allow the owners of the second or new property to access both their property and the main road. Basically, they will have to drive through our property to get to and from their property.
More back and forth from the County, we move forward and then we hit another roadblock in the form of the Fire Department. They needed to sign off on the proposed road, but the seller couldn’t get a hold of the person at the Fire Department who needed to approve the plan. After weeks of delay, he found the right person and the Fire Department signed off. The criteria for the Fire Department included having the road be wide enough so that a fire truck could turn around. Who knew this was such an important factor, but it makes perfect sense! I swear the things we city folks take for granted! To say that subdividing property in Palisade is complicated would be an understatement! The seller has hired a company to build the road. Next up water…
The last group that needed to sign off on the subdivision is or was Ute water. Having water and good water pressure is obviously really important, especially since we are planning on building an Airbnb on the property. I don’t think our guests would appreciate a shower with low water pressure! Again, more delays, inconclusive water readings, more readings taken, and the pressure is deemed okay but then Ute Water decides they needed to take more tests further afar and now the pressure is deemed to low. Ute water came back saying the seller had to update the pipes to allow for better water pressure to the additional property. At about this time, I really thought we had lost the property as this could have been a huge expense to the seller who has already invested a lot of funds to get this subdivision done!
More back and forth and an agreement was finally made and work on the pipes have been scheduled as of the writing of this post! This was the last hurtle in the subdivision process. The seller has checked the County portal (this is where he keeps track of the subdivision process) and there is nothing left outstanding, so it’s just a matter of time for the last of the paperwork being completed and the work being started and finished. To say this whole process has been an emotional roller coaster would be an understatement! The good news is, we’ve started the clock on our contract, meaning the ‘contingent’ contract has been amended and now dates have been set in place, we have inspections scheduled, and Andy is working on the loan paperwork with the bank. I’m working on lining up professional movers to transport the contents of our home, which has been in storage for over a year, over the mountain. And… we now have a closing date! If all goes according to plan, we will close on the property on August 25, 2023. Fingers crossed!
