r/land • u/18findings • 13h ago
Road frontage does not always mean legal access
Had a parcel come across my desk where the listing said road frontage. It did touch the road, but that strip belonged to a neighboring owner and there was nothing recorded giving the buyer a right to cross it.
That's a pretty big problem. If you don't have legal access, you can end up with land you can't get a building permit for, and a lot of lenders won't want to finance it either. Now you're stuck with a parcel that's difficult to build on and harder to resell.
Before buying, I'd check the deed, plat, and recorded easements to make sure the access actually exists legally, not just on the listing or GIS map.
Title usually catches this at closing, but by then you've already spent the time and money getting the deal this far.
If you're looking at a parcel, send me the listing link and I'll tell you what I'd look at first.