EP74: When looking for homestead land search for old easements and right-of-ways

I'm a farmer. Fucking plow it. That's what I did.

Easements and access are fine, except for the people...

Not to sound like an ass, but if there's that much traffic on it, it's being used (for the most part) by tax payers of your county. I understand that it was just one tax payer in that county that had it opened back up. But he looked through the deeded land and saw an existing easement for a rode, and asked to have access for it. It's the same as if the county put a paved rode through there. It's land set aside for county use. Sorry, but it's in the existing easements. Now if the county was trying to take this land from your deeded property, for this 1 man, I'll happy load up the shotgun and go to war for you. A man's land is his land, and I'll fight to keep them off your property.

Great video!

Can you sue to the county for lack of maintenance? Encourage them to close it by not making it cost effective to keep it open?

Last July ATVers tore up my vegetable garden (about $400 worth of our FOOD) and "partied" in my calving shed...burning it down in the process ($1,770 worth of materials to replace, I did all the work myself because I couldn't afford to hire a carpenter). Last Autumn when I ran out to my field to try and wave down an ATVer to ask him to stop he pulled a U-ey, cursed me, and almost ran me down. On my own land. In front of my wife and two kids (9 & 11).

Contact a local lawyer that is familiar with the area. Both of you go to the county commissioners and request that they vacate the easement. It may work, especially if it is an attractive nuisance for crime, drug activity, trespassing, poaching, etc

public right of way go get bent red tool house!.

So it's a free for all.

So you rode an ATV to a spot to complain about ATV's riding t the spot. As an. ATVer, is see it as an issue, and agree with you.

don't look ruined to me, looks exactly like West Virginia to me.

Build a pond

in my state (very close to Communism, USA) an abandoned road classification allows cars and trucks but NOT atvs, snow machines etc

It's amazing how boulders and fallen trees can suddenly appear around blind corners. Just sayin.....

...and the bad news is...…..if you want to start the next Hatfield and McCoys feud on your W Va property....close off the access to the ATV'ers who have been riding on "your" land for decades. It ain't gonna end well.

Are you originally from West Virginia? I hope not. People like you who try to use the government to do things like ....blocking access to others..... is the problem with this country. Move back to the city.

The ATV in the background doesn't help your argument ...

Nails.....tons of nails.... problem solved.

It's amazing how people who want others to respect their private property so thoroughly disrespect public property

Could set up a back country coffee house with a parking lot for all thou atv’ers

ATVs ruined it? What is the harm? People like to complain I guess. "Someone is having fun! It doesn't make a spit of difference in my life but I must stop them from having fun or at least complain about it."

Where the hell are they riding from and two...it would seem pointless to haul out to ride one old road...what fun is that?

Just had this pop into my recommended feed. Might be easier to talk to the people using the easement as an ATV trail to work with them to remedy the problems you are having. The majority of people are good, and given how hard and rare it is to find trails to ride, you might find some willing people to assist in basic maintenance (keeping it clean, not wallowing out the trail from excessive tire spin)

Might even make a friend or two.

Where I live, atv's think they have a right to go where they want and tear it all up. My county has a big problem with atv's tearing up freshly graded roads. Usually in about two days. I know an area that the county has posted that these riders may ride on the 100 acres adjacent to the road. County land. But the atv's want something they can tear up. I asked a kid one day. He said a fresh graded road is more fun. As we talked. Deputy drove up. Cited him a 500 fine. The only tracks were his. 100 acres right there to ride. Selfish idiot.
Note. He did have to pay the fine. Judge told him if he was ever back in court. It will be 1,000. This law was passed locally about 10 years ago.

Excellent advice. Easements can be very damaging to properties. I have the same problem with my "road" in front of my house. It is actually an alley or driveway that was at one point paved by the county. Even though it is 1 lane wide 300+ cars come through here daily as a short cut. Something the country refuses to do anything about even though by county ordinance it is a traffic violation to use local access roads by pass through traffic. It is well worth the effort to do some research or at least bare minimum come back at different times of the day and on the weekends (to spot that ATV traffic). A go pro.set up on time lapse photography for a few days would have saved me an enormous amount of grief and made me look else where for property.

ATVs ruined the property
Says the guy with an ATV in the video

Tough shit. That easement was there when you got the property. I hate people who think they can block public access.

Sad blame ATV traffic on a legal county road ruined your property. Yet you drive your ATV on the same roads. You know trespassing on your property is not good, but to many of you land owners believe you own it all, your property, county property, state property and federal property and to many of you act in ways that put legal riders in danger. I wont trespass, and sure as hell wont stand for people like you who try and shut down the legal places to ride, just so you have more than you paid for.

The towns around my mother in very northern NH has allowed the ATVs to use the roads. Many people bought and built here to find peace and quiet, now there is a steady roar, trash and near constant dust since many roads are dirt. The speed limit and the hours they are allowed to be on the roads has increased yearly. Many have said they no longer can open their windows in the summer because of the noise and dust. Petitions are being sent around to stop the access while a very large distributor of AVTs and the like is pushing for even longer hours and more roads opened even on private property. Snow machines whining all winter and ATVs all summer is making the country as noisy as a city.

Seems to me that busybody Yankees buying up places and then complaining about the people who were already there.

A half dozen atvs in one day can do more damage in one day than riding 🐎 could do in 10yrs.

How much are they asking for the 60 acres?

Very useful

Looks like a nice place for a big old pond.

Dig a trench, to divert water. See if the county comes and fixes it.

If you're the last property on the road you can go to the county and ask for the to revoke there ROW back to the beginning entrance to the property. If they don't make them bring the road up to the same standards as all the roads in the county or die them to make like all roads. Most likely they will give up the ROW as opposed to spending a ton of money to fix it.

Saw a "decent" farm in Wisconsin, 120 acres for a little under $150K but has a ROW to allow owner of back 40 acres free access to the driveway 24/7.
Two minutes talking to the farmer selling the property, seems whenever they saw his truck gone, things kept disappearing from his farm buildings.
Big fat NO THANK YOU!

Thank you for the video

Buy the land, keep "the road" & turn it into a toll road lol

if it's that busy , good place for a starbucks..

Tragedy of the Commons.

Boo hoo you can't steal a public road. I hate americans.

yea, just push the road back to its easement.

The suggestion that people should consider public right-of-way easements is excellent but to recommend that people "go down to the courthouse and do their own search" seems like poorly considered advice. Few people have the knowledge that it takes to perform an effective real estate title search. There are also instances where unrecorded "prescriptive easements" might exist. Doing a title search is seldom a good choice for a DIY project. After you have found a parcel you are interested in, I'd go to a Title Insurance Company and talk to a title officer (or their representative.) In my area Title Companies will provide courtesy preliminary title reports to almost anyone that requests one before they close on the purchase of property. If you happen to have a friend who is a licensed land surveyor they can also be a great help with this type of information. They might not take the time to do a title search for you but you can usually count on a surveyor to . . . point you in the right direction!!!

Awwww poor landowner.

roofing nains

that is not an easement. that is a county road. whether it is presently maintained does not matter. it is still legally a county road. they will only maintain if there is a house present. all you have to do is contact the department of transportation for your county and request partial abandonment of the county road. you and adjoining neighbors sign the request and it goes off for approval.

WV should ban running ATVs on public roads.

That step out from behind the chimney was the slickest open I've seen in a while! Haha! Epic.

I'd buy it. I'd put an unlocked gate across it in several locations, so if they want to drive it, they have to get out and open the gate, then put a spring on it so it would automatically close. If asked, I'd say I was fencing for cattle soon.