Nakoma Resort lots offers ideal sizes to design your custom home.
The listed lot size you may be considering to purchase is not the size you have to work with. It is paramount to have an understanding all the rules and regulations that govern the area to build. This article covers the elements which could affect your purchasing decisions and ultimately the size of your home.
Easements
The simple definition is: An easement is a legal right to use someone else’s land for a particular purpose. Working our way from the outside property lines into the building area we will use a typical lot within the Nakoma Resort. Many lots are advertised at over one acre which on the surface sounds good. Well that’s because it is great. By the time you breakdown all the elements of your building site you usually end up with a comfortable amount of space. This not always the case in other developments.
Road Easement
Nakoma Resort lots are measured to the center of the street. This is not typical in most urban areas but you will find this method in private resorts and Home Owners Association (HOA). So this means the HOA has a 20′ road easement along each side of the property line bordering the street. Even though its counted within the real estate it can never be used by the owner since the HOA has the legal right to use for the installation of the streets. Visually its in-consequential but in the case of our example Lot 178 advertised at 1.02 acres gross this one easement reduced the lot size down to .86 acres net.
Utility Easement
Utility easements are areas reserved for the utility companies and community service districts to install and service utilities to the property. In the case of Nakoma Resort an additional 10′ utility easement adjacent to the road easement mentioned above., often refereed to as a PUE. So this means the road and utility easements consume the first 30′ along the property line. The only real consequence is the usable or net size of the lot. Considering easements in your buying decisions can influence the perception of the lot size. Although its common to see utility easements along all sides of a property its not unheard of to see easements dissecting a property such as overhead power lines and under ground utilities like water and sewer. Dissecting easements can be detrimental to the use of a property. Be aware that you can not build anything within any these easements.
Investigating easements prior to purchasing a lot is prudent which are a legal transaction recorded at the local county. Consult with your Real Estate Professional on making offers contingent on this investigation. Once easements and net lot size are established then consult with a Design Build professional familiar with the development to understand all aspects driving the design of your home.
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Setbacks
Setbacks are spaces reserved around the perimeter of a lot mandated by local jurisdictions and/or Home Owner Associations. Setbacks are a way to govern the size, scale and density of homes and go hand in hand with all the other rules and regulations that influence home design. In this example we will use a typical lot in the Nakoma Resort. Now that we understand easements a bit better Setbbacks can be in addition to easements further reducing your buildable area. Gold Mountain HOA establishes the setbacks within the Nakoma development and in our example they are 20′ around the perimeter of the lot. This DOES NOT include the aforementioned road easement. The utility easement is included in the 20′ setback which means a total of 40′ along the road side of a lot is not allowed to be built on. As you can see factoring all these elements into your plans significantly affects the size and placement your home.
Survey
The first image above show drawings prepared by our Land Surveyor. This information provides necessary information to begin the design of a home. A survey identifies the property lines, topography, easements, setbacks, utilities, trees and rock outcroppings. Within the second drawing you can see where our Architectural Design team has placed the home on the lot. Considering all the easements, set backs and ravines to each side of the lot there is minimal space remaining past our footprint. Site characteristics such as ravines, rock outcroppings and trees can play a vital role for the building area.
