04 May 10
I 69 Update
Sources indicate that many landowners are starting to receive offers in section 2 of the I 69 project. This includes landowners in the Washington and Oakland City areas. We represent numerous land owners on the I 69 project and are currently conducting site visits, taking photographs, developing compensation theories and arranging our appraisal team for our clients. After spending some time working on these issues we have identified several issue that each landowner should be aware of before accepting or rejecting the State’s offer.
1) Get in the “know zone.” To often landowners will settle their case without “knowing” the true value. Many landowners think that know how much they should receive in compensation but in almost every case they are wrong. As we tell our clients, the typical landowner doesn’t know enough about how they should be compensated to make an intelligent decision. This failure to get into the “know zone” can sometimes be disastrous. Imagine not “knowing” and settling your case for hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars less than what you were entitled to.
So how do landowner’s get into the “know zone.” Affected landowners that have offers can contact our office at any time. We will quickly arrange a meeting and provide our initial opinion as to the State’s offer free of charge. With our years of experience handling eminent domain cases we can quickly and efficiently evaluate the State’s offer. If the State’s offer appears to be low we will then recommend that you engage our firm to provide you with the right compensation figure. Remember this is your only opportunity to be compensated for this taking. When dealing with such significant impacts to your land and future it only makes sense to get into the “know” zone.
2) Don’t get in a rush. For most landowners the taking represents a significant impact to their land. Compensation could run from the hundred of thousands to millions of dollars. When involved in any complicated condemnation process TAKE YOUR TIME and get into the KNOW ZONE! The State wants to speed up your decision making process so that you don’t make good decisions and don’t take the time to properly evaluate your case. A hasty decision by a landowner in this situation is almost always the wrong decision. If they threaten condemnation LET THEM! You can still settle your case at any time during the condemnation proceedings. In fact there are procedural safeguards that are involved in the condemnation process that you may want to utilize to get the compensation you deserve. For more information on this see our video on the condemnation process.
If you would like more information about condemnation and the I 69 project specifically feel free to contact our office at any time at 1-888-318-3761 or visit us on the web at www.severstorey.com.
Phil Sever
