09/07/2026
A handshake is not an easement.
Plenty of places up here share a well, or a driveway, or both. Two camps off one drilled well. Three houses down a gravel road that isn't a town road. It works fine — right up until it doesn't.
The question isn't whether the neighbors are good people. They probably are. The question is what happens when the pump quits, or the culvert washes out, or one of them sells to somebody you've never met.
A recorded agreement answers that. Who pays for what. Who maintains what. Who gets access, and when. Whether it runs with the land or dies with the current owner.
If there's nothing recorded, that isn't automatically a dealbreaker. It's a conversation to have before closing, with your attorney doing the writing. Not a text thread. Not "the old owner always plowed it."
Ask early. It's a lot cheaper than asking later.
Happy to walk you through what to look for on a place you're considering.
