The joys of rural property ownership...

3024 Views 100 Replies 39 Participants Last post by leenie, 2 mo ago

Maine Guy

Discussion Starter · 2 mo ago

I bought another 30 acres right down the road from where we live last summer. It's in land use, so taxes are nothing.
A beautiful piece of land with a small trout stream. My dream to have.
I month after I buy it, the old fart next door that has a 17 acre contiguous tract next to mine, calls to let me know he's clear cutting the 17 acres. Initially I'm like WXF??

I express my serious concerns since most properties up here in Maine only have a meets and bounds deed.

The big oak tree over by the small pile of rocks, down the hill to the creek bank...that kind. Absolutely worthless.
This is the type of deed shared by both properties.

I send him a certified letter with my concerns, he won't accept it.
He calls and says he's having his daughter and son in law using a phone app to delineate the property lines. I still have serious doubts

SO now the battle begins. Timber trucks going by at 6am pulling the jake brake acting like a retard. Of course my Presa's react on a hair trigger, and go ape sxxx!

Temperatures rising and the possibility for a real conflict is rising also.

FYI, timber up here is BIG business. Someone cuts a bunch of your standing timber, and you're talking thousands, probably tens of thousands of dollars of pinched timber.

My lot is entirely forested with mature and soft and hardwood.
Had to call Maine Forestry Service, have a ranger come out, inspect the job-site and open a complaint.

Meantime I'm paying a surveyor $6K to survey the entire property perimeter. Had to be done eventually anyway.
The sooner you get on and record illegally cut timber stumpage for evidence the better for evidence.

The story continues....
Will update.

Maine Guy

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M2HB

· #16 · 2 mo ago

Maine Guy said:
I bought another 30 acres right down the road from where we live last summer. It's in land use, so taxes are nothing.
A beautiful piece of land with a small trout stream. My dream to have.
I month after I buy it, the old fart next door that has a 17 acre contiguous tract next to mine, calls to let me know he's clear cutting the 17 acres. Initially I'm like WXF??

I express my serious concerns since most properties up here in Maine only have a meets and bounds deed.

The big oak tree over by the small pile of rocks, down the hill to the creek bank...that kind. Absolutely worthless.
This is the type of deed shared by both properties.

I send him a certified letter with my concerns, he won't accept it.
He calls and says he's having his daughter and son in law using a phone app to delineate the property lines. I still have serious doubts

SO now the battle begins. Timber trucks going by at 6am pulling the jake brake acting like a retard. Of course my Presa's react on a hair trigger, and go ape sxxx!

Temperatures rising and the possibility for a real conflict is rising also.

FYI, timber up here is BIG business. Someone cuts a bunch of your standing timber, and you're talking thousands, probably tens of thousands of dollars of pinched timber.

My lot is entirely forested with mature and soft and hardwood.
Had to call Maine Forestry Service, have a ranger come out, inspect the job-site and open a complaint.

Meantime I'm paying a surveyor $6K to survey the entire property perimeter. Had to be done eventually anyway.
The sooner you get on and record illegally cut timber stumpage for evidence the better for evidence.

The story continues....
Will update.

Maine Guy

I feel for you.

Some neighbors can be a real pain.

I have about 110 acres of forested land surrounded by Forest Service property except for a small border on one side, and a neighbor that has two acres that abuts just one corner on the opposite end of my property. My public access crosses this one neighbor’s two acre parcel. This access is a legal public road. This neighbor never did like me because he bought his two acres shortly before I bought my large parcel about 30 years ago. He wanted my acreage, but couldn’t afford it. This guy complained the first time I select cut timber, even though I replanted about 2000 saplings, and kept the largest trees. He harasses me and other neighbors to the point he has been arrested for harassing a good friend of mine, who is the local fire chief, while he was responding to an accident scene. All my neighbors, even though none are real close, are wonderful except for this nut job.
I’m lucky since the Forest Service surveyed and marked all of the perimeter they had near my property.

A survey will clear up any legal issues. It is money well spent. As stated above, most loggers won’t mess with small parcels. Also, the distance to a local mill will also affect the lumber value.

Good luck with your situation.

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M2HB

· #54 · 2 mo ago

I am surprised that the county doesn’t have fairly accurate public records maps of property lines for the purpose of taxation.

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M2HB

· #60 · 2 mo ago

leenie said:
I bought some of the family farm ground. the taxes were higher on the six acre plot with the bins and a hog building than the 11 acres with my house. after 3 years I go down to the county seat and ask them why. he says you have a house on it I say no I don't. he looked at the aerial photo showing the farm house on the other guys property. he wouldn't give me any money back but lowered the taxes on the other for few years. don't expect much from county officials and you won't be disappointed. no were on my deed does it say I have to be a good neighbor. I ain't mr Rodgers.

At least they had aerial photos showing what items were on which property.

Most counties do have that ability. Some are very sophisticated.

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M2HB

· #75 · 2 mo ago

The GPS should get you close to the benchmark locations. I never had issues finding the benchmarks. The section corners or quarter section corners. From there it is simple measurements except where you have obstacles in the way.

As the GPS gets better, the old methods of surveying may become somewhat obsolete. Surveys also have to clear up mistakes that have been made in the past.

Between good surveys and Title Insurance a buyer should be fairly confident of what is theirs.

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M2HB

· #85 · 2 mo ago

FLT said:
Good fences help keep everyone honest, folks have tendency to spread out over time.

That is a fact.
I have always tried to be a good neighbor if at all possible. Even after trying to be a good neighbor, some folks just want to take advantage of other folks.
My philosophy is be a good neighbor, live and let live, but don’t let someone take advantage of you to an extreme. Minor issues I can let go, but when they intentionally want to take advantage of a situation you have to draw the line somewhere. That is where, in this case, a good survey is money well spent.

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M2HB

· #94 · 2 mo ago

Maine Guy said:
EPILOG: Just walked my entire property line, including the side in contention, and for once I catch a pretty big break.
No big timber taken!!! Just a few small saplings were cut.
Quite honestly I think that was vandalism, not enough to go to court, but just enough to piss me off.
Not a problem, I always return a favor.

I guess these idiots had to do something to let me know they were really pissed, so they also pulled down the boundary tape at one corner on the shared property line, and pulled the caps off the pins.

Pretty childish, and pretty short sighted too considering I like to "play" too.

Wonder how they're gonna like my .416 Barrett when I take it to the property and run a few rounds or 20 through it ?
Ya know just to check my zero.
It's been a while since I shot it.

I hate to waste rounds sighting in.

Maybe a few 5lb reactive targets too...ya know so I don't have to walk the 500 yards to know I'm on the mark.

Hee, hee.

Maine Guy

I would remark your boundary corners and then put game cameras out there to watch them.
I’ll bet it is a crime, and maybe a felony, to mess with survey boundary markers.

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