Right-of-way problems can turn selling your Lakewood home into a complicated challenge. Whether you’re dealing with disputed access roads, utility easements, or encroachment issues, these legal complications often scare away traditional buyers and can significantly delay your sale.
If you’re looking to sell your Lakewood house quickly despite right-of-way concerns, understanding your options is the first step toward a successful transaction.
Understanding Right-of-Way Problems in Lakewood
Right-of-way issues come in many forms for Lakewood homeowners. Some properties have public easements where utility companies can access parts of your yard. Others have shared driveways with unclear maintenance responsibilities.
Some Lakewood neighborhoods have prescriptive easements, where long-term use has created access rights across private property.
These situations become particularly problematic when selling because potential buyers and their mortgage companies often shy away from properties with unclear boundaries or access disputes. What seems like a minor issue to you might become a major stumbling block during the sale process.
How Right-of-Way Issues Impact Traditional Home Sales
When selling a Lakewood home with right-of-way complications, several challenges typically arise:
A longer time on the market is almost guaranteed. Homes with title or access issues typically take 60-90 days longer to sell than comparable properties without such problems.
Financing obstacles often emerge during the process. Mortgage lenders may require additional surveys, title insurance exceptions, or even refuse to finance properties with significant right-of-way disputes.
Lower offers reflect the perceived risk. Traditional buyers typically discount their offers by 10-20% when right-of-way issues exist, even if the problems are relatively minor.
Expensive solutions may be required. Resolving right-of-way problems often involves surveys, legal fees, and potentially construction costs to create alternative access points.
Disclosure requirements in Colorado require you to inform potential buyers about known right-of-way disputes, making it impossible to hope that nobody notices the problem.
Options for Selling a Lakewood Home with Right-of-Way Issues
When facing these challenges, Lakewood homeowners generally have three options:
First, you can attempt to resolve the right-of-way issues before listing your property. This typically involves hiring attorneys, surveyors, and potentially negotiating with neighbors or utility companies. While this creates the cleanest solution, it often takes 6-12 months and can cost thousands of dollars with no guarantee of success.
Second, you can list the issues traditionally while disclosing them. This approach means accepting a potentially longer sale timeline and lower offers, but allows you to market to the broadest audience. Some buyers may be willing to take on the risks, particularly if they are planning significant renovations anyway.
Third, you can work with a cash buyer who specializes in property challenges. This option typically offers the fastest resolution and eliminates the need to fix complex legal issues before selling.
The Atlas Portfolio Solution for Right of Way Problems
At The Atlas Portfolio, we’ve helped numerous Lakewood homeowners sell their properties despite complex right-of-way issues. Our process eliminates the typical obstacles:
We purchase properties with existing right-of-way challenges. Our team understands the unique neighborhood configurations and common access disputes in Lakewood.
We don’t require financing, which means no lender requirements or appraisal contingencies to worry about.
Our legal team handles the complexity after purchase. Instead of you spending months resolving these issues, we take them on as part of our renovation process.
We offer fair prices based on the property’s current condition and legal situation. While right-of-way issues do affect value, our local expertise enables us to make often more competitive offers than traditional buyers, who often overestimate the costs of resolution.
Next Steps: Getting a Fast, Fair Offer Despite Right-of-Way Issues
If you’re ready to sell your Lakewood home without the hassle of resolving complex right-of-way problems, The Atlas Portfolio offers a straightforward solution.
Our process begins with a free consultation to understand your specific situation. We’ll examine your property’s right-of-way challenges, explain how they might impact traditional sales, and present our cash offer option. You’ll receive a no-obligation offer that takes into account the property’s current condition and any associated legal complexities.
If you accept, we can close on your timeline, often in as little as 7 days. No need to negotiate with neighbors, fight with utility companies, or pay for expensive legal solutions.
Don’t let right-of-way issues keep you trapped in a property you need to sell. Contact The Atlas Portfolio today to discuss your Lakewood home and discover how our cash buying process can help you move forward despite these complex challenges.
