Minor in Possession (of real estate) (LA 910)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

Steven Butala:                   Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala.

Jill DeWit:                            And I'm Jill DeWit broadcasting from sunny Southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about minor in possession of real estate. This is obviously a play on words for minor in possession. Like the show yesterday, it was inspired by an actual thing.

Jill DeWit:                            Exactly.

Steven Butala:                   An actual comment.

Jill DeWit:                            I love it.

Steven Butala:                   The real question is this, can a minor own real estate? The real short is answer is yes, and we'll talk about it because it gets tricky. Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community. It's free.

Jill DeWit:                            Matt asks, "I have the opportunity to buy four half acre lots, two on one side of the street and two on the other side. Everything looked good at first with asphalt roads, curb and gutter, all the utilities and an agreed purchase price less than half the value of comps in the area. The agreed purchase price is $20,000.00 per lot, and the lowest priced comp is $50,000.00. But once I looked on Google Earth, I discovered that the road had been raised to meet a grade of perpendicular road it T's into-"

Steven Butala:                   Great due diligence.

Jill DeWit:                            "As a result, the road for these four lots' front is about 10 to 15 feet-"

Steven Butala:                   Oh, feet?

Jill DeWit:                            "Higher than the lots, with about a one to one slope." So the road's up-

Steven Butala:                   Not inches?

Jill DeWit:                       ...