Easements and title
When the recorded papers and the ground disagree
A driveway crosses a neighbor's land, a fence leans past the line, a lender from 1978 still shows on the record. Each is ordinary, and each is easier to fix before closing than after.
I read the title report line by line, compare it with the survey and the deeds, and tell you which exceptions matter for the use you have in mind. Where a paper is missing, I draft and record it.
Where I work
Access and driveway easements
Utility, drainage and conservation easements
Boundary lines and encroachments
Liens, old deeds of trust and gaps in the chain
Shared wells, roads and maintenance agreements
Four kinds of easement
The same word, four very different rights
Access
The right to cross land to reach a road or a lot. Where it runs, how wide and who keeps it up decide whether a parcel can be built on.
Utilities
Power, water, sewer and phone lines that cross the lot. They can limit where a house, a pool or a barn goes.
Drainage and conservation
Rights to move water across a parcel, or limits recorded to protect land. Some can't be moved or ended.
Shared roads and wells
Several owners, one system. A written agreement on cost and repair keeps a broken pump from becoming a dispute.
Easements and title
What owners ask about the papers
What if my neighbor won't sign an easement?
Then we look at what the records and the land already show, and at what a neighbor would accept in return. Some matters settle with a short written agreement; a few need a court's help.
Can a lien be removed before closing?
Often, yes. It depends on who holds it and how fast they respond, so the earlier it's found, the more options you have.
Who pays for a survey?
The contract says. Buyers usually order one, and I can ask the seller to share the cost when the title report points at the boundary.
Send the title report with its exceptions
Send the report and the survey, if there is one. I mark the exceptions that matter for your plans and say what it would take to clear each.