Your Situation
What sits behind a North Carolina offer, what the valuation assumed, and the parts of value it may not have reached.
An offer is the condemnor putting a number on the interest it wants, supported by an appraisal prepared for the condemnor. It is a reasonable starting point and it is not the last word, particularly where only part of your land is being taken.
Most disagreements in North Carolina turn on assumptions inside the appraisal rather than on arithmetic: what highest and best use was assumed, how access was treated, and whether the remainder was properly valued after the project.
Check which measure was used. Section 40A-64 entitles you to the greater of the before and after difference across the whole tract, or the value of the part taken. An appraisal that only values the strip has answered half the question.
The short answer
Read the appraisal, not just the number. The assumptions are where the money is.
The base measure and the comparables chosen.
Read moreWhether this is a strip, a corner or a corridor, and what is left.
Read moreDriveway changes, crossovers and turning movements.
Read moreHow the leftover parcel was treated after the take.
In preparationWhat a corridor easement actually permits.
In preparationWhether a business on the land was considered.
In preparationFee, permanent easement, temporary construction easement, or a mix.
This single assumption moves the number more than any other.
Genuinely comparable in size, zoning, frontage and date?
On a partial taking this is the part that decides whether the offer is close.
An appraisal treating access as unchanged, against plans that move a driveway, is worth questioning.
If a transportation corridor map was recorded over your land, that restriction has its own compensation history.
Particularly where the remainder analysis is thin.
If no agreement follows, compensation is decided by the court. Treating the first figure as fixed gives up the negotiation the process assumes.
North Carolina applies strict limits in several parts of this area, including claims connected to recorded corridor maps. Take advice on dates rather than assuming.
No. If no agreement is reached the condemnor proceeds and the court determines compensation.
Compensation is determined on the evidence of value. Questioning an offer puts the valuation evidence in front of the decision maker.
Many owners do, especially on partial takings where the before and after analysis is contested. Discuss it with a licensed North Carolina attorney first.
Explore North Carolina resources matched to your property, the project affecting it, and the stage you have reached.
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