The Hunt For Water & Sewer

O.k., so I made it my mission yesterday to find out exactly where water and sewer was located for all of my development property listings in Jefferson County. Sounds very efficient of me, doesn't it? Wow! This was quite an undertaking.

Not only are there hundreds of maps and diagrams to look through, and some have water and sewer, and some have only water or only sewer, but to top it off, they are not digitized as of yet. This has begun, however, and when it is all digital, it will make everyone's position in the development web easier. It's an on-going project that will probably take a year or longer to complete. Well, at least in its first stages. Maybe "complete" is not the right word, as everything is changing so quickly here.

After going through my list of properties listed in Evans Mills, Felts Mills, Black River, Watertown (City), etc., and after spending some time, the engineer I was working with, and I, decided that this is probably not my job. In fact, developers know it's not my job, and they know where to find this stuff and can read the information much better than I can.

It's not just a matter of where the water is, it's the size of the pipe, it's the gravitational pull, it's got to do with grinder pumps and force lanes, and on and on. It's actually something with which I as a real estate agent cannot help the developer. In fact, he should not take my word for where water and sewer is without his own due diligence on the property. All he needs is the tax map number, and if there is a physical street address (911 address.)

So, Realtors, I am sure that as we go through this ocean of experiences as real estate agents, every day being like the first day on earth (for me, anyway), based on so many different situations for every single transaction, there comes a time where we draw the line. And this is it, folks. Eeez not my yobb, you know?

The development of a property is very involved, more than the real estate agent could know without an engineering degree. We have the listings, we have some of the information on the property, we are the liaisons for the transaction, making a real effort from start to finish for a smooth closing. But where water and sewer is, how much it will cost to put it where they want it, and if it will even be approved in any given municipality, well, we can only scratch the surface on these issues.

Buyers of homes have Disclosure Statements to lean on. But don't lean too heavily, they may not be accurate. Buyers of commercial property need to do their own Due Diligence. The bottom line is, when you're buyer is interested in a property, he needs to do his own homework, no matter if it's residential, commercial, or unimproved land, etc.

Yes, we are there to help, we'll take them by the hand, we are there to find them properties, let them know about zoning, etc. We cut their search time by much, and time is the most important thing to buyers and investors - it's what we do. But they need to take it from there. We cannot know exactly what their needs are, the plans and issues involved in their project, and other details they'll be working through.

More on Commercial RE $cope to come …