Really, We Do Wear Shoes Here in Gatlinburg!

One of the persistent myths about the South, Tennessee, and possibly our particular community here in the Gatlinburg area is that people here are still living like hillbillies. Old stereotypes die hard but my personal belief is that people from other parts of the country have to have some reason to explain why they wouldn't want to live here in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. We are exceedingly blessed to live in a safe and spectacularly beautiful part of the country that also has VERY low taxes, a mild climate, and so much more going for it. The pace here is a little slower than some other parts of the nation and in my opinion that isn't all bad. In fact, in light of what is currently transpiring around the country being a few years behind might be looked at as a very good thing indeed.

All of this being said I'm not so sure that we don't occasionally do some things that cause the myths about us slow-talking Southerners to persist. I recently had one of these events that left me almost speechless which as those who know me best will affirm is not an easy thing to do. One of our recent Gatlinburg real estate foreclosure listings was priced well and almost immediately put under contract with multiple offers. As the would-be buyer was pre-approved the only steps needed to complete the sale were a home inspection, title search, and then a closing. The home inspection found a couple of items that were easily remedied but the title search was not by any means the normal uneventful process we are accustomed to.

Seems that the home in question is built directly over a subdivision sewer line easement which is of course a huge problem. In the event that the sewer line ever had to be serviced the home owner's association would have the right (and even the obligation) to dig right through the house to get to the underground line and make whatever repairs were necessary. The excavator would have no obligation to make repairs to the home and this could happen whenever (if ever) the sewer line required service.

The unintelligence of this situation is truly remarkable. Somehow, a subdivision plan was approved that had a septic line under a house site or possibly the home was built on the wrong site. Regardless of how this occurred, the title search conducted as a part of the initial sale of the property should have detected this huge flaw and halted that sale but it didn't. Whether you want to blame the engineering company that created the subdivision plan, the city of Gatlinburg which approved it, the surveyor who located the house site, or the contractor who built it someone made a gigantic error and now we have a house that is basically unable to be sold and would make a great spot for a small neighborhood mini-park.

The crowning stupidity in this story is that although the initial buyer went away we now have a second party who wishes to buy this flawed property KNOWING of the existence and the issues caused by the placement of the sewer easement and the home structure. He is willing to pay cash (no bank will lend on this property due to the easement issue) and we are expecting an offer from his agent today. No word yet on whether this new buyer is from East Tennessee or not...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey Jeff

Even though the reference is many times a jab, we use it in an endearing manner. We love the folks we have come in contact with there. Your absolutely right when you say it's a bit slower there. We love that people take the time to talk to us! As far as making mistakes or outright blunders, that happens everywhere. We live in Florida and they give developers the green light to ruin the coastline with an over abudance of Condo Buildings. They are permitted to asphalt over Gopher Tortoise habitat and let the animals just suffocate - it's crazy here is Florida too.

We were wondering what the "catch" was with the property with that easement issue, now we know!

We're working with Cindy and I guess you can say she's one of our favorite "hillbillies". She's been great! Please send her some Chicken Soup ASAP.

We're trying to put a deal together now but if we dont't this time - it will be very soon.

YOU GUYS ARE SUPER!

Dave & Sherry W
chopson4 said…
Thank you Dave & Sherry!


Best Regards,

Cindy
Tabitha Miller said…
Hey Jeff, We were the first buyer. Luckily we dodged that bullet. The Realtor told us we didn't need a survey because it was on a PUD. We even signed a waiver of a survey and then we changed out minds because we wanted to make the front and back porch bigger. The moral of the story is always get a survey even if you are in a PUD.
Tabitha
Tabitha,

You are right on to always get a survey. I have instructed my buyer's agents to always advise our buyers to obtain a survey. Kind of like insurance, you don't need it unless you need it and then you REALLY need it...

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