As a real estate broker, I am constantly traveling back and forth between towns and Cities within Sonoma County. And as well as I think I know my County, I'm quite often surprised when I find that a home isn't in the City I thought it was in.
There is a line of demarcation somewhere, dividing jurisdictions from one City to another, but that line is invisible. And sometimes it moves. This isn't usually a problem, until I find myself needing assistance.
Real Estate, as every agent knows, isn't the safest job in the world. Agents meet with people they have never met in homes they have never been in. Because of this, I store the contact numbers of every police and sheriffs department in my cell phone.
Today is one of those days where I need to find out who I should call in case I find myself in a vulnerable situation. The foreclosed home I am visiting to do an occupancy check is right on the cusp of two Cities. To make my job even harder, the online County recorders office says the home is in one City, the online County Assessor's tax roll says its in another.
One of these Cities has its own police department, the other is under contract with the County Sheriff. After a phone call to the City police, I was told the address is within the County's jurisdiction. Another call had to be placed, of course, to make sure the County Sheriff's dispatcher agreed with that. They did.
Part of me wants to buy a can of spray paint so I can define my own line of demarcation based on my research, but I won't. Like I said ... sometimes those lines move. And it is better to be safe than sorry.
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Copyright © 2010 - 2013 All Rights Reserved
Cynthia Larsen
Broker/Owner - Safe Haven Realty
Sonoma County, California, USA
(707) 332-2560
Oh the woes of an REO agent!!! Glad that you are being safe.....we wouldn't want anything to happen to you!! Be Safe!!!
Cynthia.... you should be more worried about driving so close to the edge of a ledge with no guard rail bordering the road!!!!
You can never be too careful these days, that's for sure! Even though you have a confusing situation over there, sounds like you did your homework and you're prepared.
now that's something I never even considered. In most cases I am in one of three counties. Two of which the sheriff would respond and in the 3rd... well I carry a gun.
Cynthia, this is when it really comes in handy that my husband is retired. I just have him ride along in these cases. As you said, we can't be too cautious these days.
Occasionally, even a prelim is incorrect, as it depends on government employee data entry. Maybe one day Google will fix all that.
Good post, thanks for sharing it.
Whether your talking about Windsor, or Sonoma, it's all dispatched by the sheriff's office anyway. Good thing your thinking about it though
I also work in an area with four different cities and an unincorporated area--so far, I've never needed to make a call to any of the local police departments in an emergency situation and I hope I never do. Better safe than sorry as the saying goes...
HA . . . and we wonder why state and federal agencies can't catch the bad guys! The line of jurisdictional demarcation in the way. I'm glad to read you take precautions.
Cynthia: I give you credit for making an occupancy check by yourself. I'm no whoozy, but I like to take a male associate with me in case of a physical confrontation. Had the son of a client once who, throughout the sales process, took the bully stance. My precaution kept me from calling the authorities several times. And we got the home sold, although the buyer almost had him arrested once. It's a great story for another time.
Deborah - thanks ... it ended up being a friendly visit for the most part.
Barbara - but doesn't that white fence look sturdy enough?
Carie - I'm more prepared than I used to be, that's for sure!
Tammy - LOL, I can't carry a gun here ... easily, that is.
Tammie #2 - you are lucky to have a ride-a-long, that's great!
Anthony - I didn't even think about the prelim! Oh man, it's going to be 50/50 whether the address on the purchase contract matches the one on the prelim. The underwriter will have fun with this one!
Jim - It's Windsor I'm talking about. Since they don't have a police department I have no choice but to call the Sheriff.
Norma - I haven't had an emergency yet ... but I make sure I obtain the DIRECT line to the dispacher so I don't have to try to navigate a voice menu to 10 minutes to get the right department.
Carla - I've run into some angry former borrowers, so I make sure I can call someone.
Hella - sounds miserable and perfect for a blog post!
I guess we all have those problems. . . we can have the same zip codes, be in different school districts, and different townships. I feel like a CSI sometimes!
Sounds complicated. Glad you're considering your safety, while you're working, though. Best of luck.
Gretchen
Joy - who knew there was so much research to be done? Being an agent is being a sleuth!
Gretchen - Columbia Gorge? I know exactly where that is ... thanks!
Cynthia - Years ago, I sold a wonderful home on a large parcel of land in an upscale part of Greater Sacramento. The lot was at the end of a cul-de-sac, with oak trees everywhere, and a creek flowing through at the back. We noticed a gazebo at water's edge on the otherside of the creek. We assumed that it belonged to the back neighbor. However, after close of escrow, my buyer had a survey performed for the purpose of putting up fences on the property lines. You guessed it, the boundaries were no where near what the seller had told us, nor where they where we suspected they might be. My buyer gained 9 feet of ground on the left side, which went into the neighbor's vegetable garden. And that gazebo which was on the otherside of the creek, was actaully on my client's land. The back neighbor peacefully moved it. I can only imagine what issues may have risen had their been a deduction of ground, rather than an addition.
Myrl - oh boy, did you ever luck out! When watching a football game we get to see red and yellow lines on the field where the line of scrimmage and the 1st down measurements are. We need those magic lines to appear on our listings so we can see the boundaries. Wouldn't that make our job much easier?
Ah yes, the joys of working in smaller communities. Every jurisdiction has different by-laws, zoning regulations, tax rates, safety regulations, etc. etc. Sometimes it does require a bit of detective work to get everything straight Cynthia.
Cynthia - you definitely come from "the prepared" side of the world --- deciphering the boundaries of cities and unincorporated areas can be a full time job. Glad to see you being proactive. Stay safe and prepared.
Cynthia, it is a difficult task being the agent in the field sometimes...you bring great points to the table for all of us to consider..
Cynthia, if a house isn't vacant, or if I don't know, I make Frank go with me. You are very brave to go by yourself :) And demarcation lines that move? Are the city and county constantly annexing and de-annexing each other?
Sharon
Cynthia, I am glad that you take such care in regard to your safety. We have had issues in Dallas over the last few months.
Cynthia, Good work on taking precautions, even if it gets complicated.
In this area a home can be in one city, but the mailing address will be a different city. So a home with a Saratoga mailing address, for example, may be in the city of San Jose. Lots of weird cases like that because our once small cities grew together into a metropolis and blurred demarcation lines. Sometimes one end of a residential block will be in one city, and the other end of the same block will be in a different city. The demarcation line is between two neighboring homes. Pretty weird.
I think I'd be getting out that can of spray paint if it were me Cynthia..................
It never hurts to be prepared and careful - sounds as though you have a system in place to ensure you're as safe as possible. Keep it up, and don't ever be tempted to cut safety corners.
Cyndi...
How did we come to this? I'm often frightened by occupancy checks, especially out in the remote ares of the county. I try to take a friend with me when possible, just in case. Stay safe and BE CAREFUL!
We can see how this would be an issue Cynthia. Its unfortunate that we have to protect ourselves like this, but we do! You are smart to check into and carry the police numbers.
Good to hear you are trying to be prepared for whatever you find when you go to do an occupancy check. A fellow agent asked me this week if I could spare a little time to go with her on an occupancy check. Fortunately the property was vacant and she felt better having someone along for the ride.
Malcolm - it seems real estate requires more and more detective work every day.
Michael - I've had to call the police more than once. And it only took once to figure out I needed access to good contact numbers.
Ginny - ever since the foreclosures started ... it's gotten pretty strange out there.
Frank & Sharon - unincorporated areas being annexed into a City. It happened near me recently where a place called Canon manor was taken in by Rohnert Park.
Sharon - you never know when a squatter might be hanging out in a vacant house.
Lloyd - I lived in San Jose for awhile, I can only imagine how it has grown so.
Roger - LOL, your demarcation line would be beautiful!
Charlie - research, research, research. It really pays off.
Richard - good question ... how did it come to this? I never thought I would be doing occupancy checks when I started real estate.
Al & Peggy - who knew real estate would be a dangerous job? I sure didn't.
Cindy - how nice of you to ride along. It sure makes a difference to have somebody with you!
Great idea to have phone numbers for the different police departments. Im gonna put this to use right away. Call 911 from a cell phone you never know who youll get.
Cynthia , When these types of circumstances arise, I always let at least two people know the address's of where I'm going and turn on my GPS tracker on my phone...