If It Were Only That Simple

While standing in front of our little treasure and with the Zillow ad for the cabin pulled up on my phone, I requested to be contacted by a realtor.  Within minutes my phone rang and I was in discussion with a realtor named Linda.  Linda pulled the listing up and said she would call the listing agent.  We spoke a few times over the course of the weekend but knew that nothing could really happen until we could get home.  Linda did mention that there was already an offer in on the property but that didn’t stop us from getting emotionally attached as throughout the remainder of the weekend we would swing in just to look at it every time we passed by the subdivision.  The one solid piece of advice that Linda gave us was to do our homework on the Association.  She mentioned that there was a fairly significant dispute happening among members about whether or not the Association should put a restriction on allowing homes to be rented.

As soon as we decided that we wanted to move forward on making our back up offer official, I started doing my homework to learn more about the HOA Bylaws and the County and Township building codes and restrictions.  The HOA has their current deed restrictions and bylaws on their website.  There are certain bylaws that were amended in 2000, but those are not readily available to see the specifics.  From what I can tell, Section 7.1 which states the minimum size of 850 square feet was one of the bylaws that was amended in 2000.  The County Register of Deeds, performed a full search of the HOA recorded deed restrictions to find that the original deed was recorded in 1965 and the only amendment was in 2000.  In 1965, the original minimum size requirement was 480 square feet.  This was changed in 2000 to the current minimum of 850 square feet.  How this cabin was allowed to be constructed is yet to be determined, but nonetheless it exists.

I decided to reach out to the board for information regarding the history of the cabin.  I called all 3 members of the Architectural Committee whose phone numbers were listed on the HOA website.  After 4 days, I finally got a call back.  The gentleman on the other end of the line said that the cabin was erected in 1985.  I asked how it could have been legal for them to build it without a bathroom.  He said that the owners lived on another lot in the association so a bathroom wasn’t necessary.  When I told him that we were interested in putting a bathroom into the cabin and that I was aware the new construction was required to be a minimum of 850 square feet according to the rules of the association, he said that I should check with the county minimum requirements as he thought they required a minimum living space of 1200 square feet.

According to the Leelanau Township Supervisor and Zoning Administrator, there is no minimum and the cabin has the classification of being a residence.  According to the County, we are applying for the appropriate permits to bring the cabin current with code, therefore there is no problem with us occupying the cabin once the work is done.  The Township has informed us that if we decide to add to the footprint of the cabin, we would then need to apply for a Building Use Permit.

All signs were pointing to the fact that we were going to be grandfathered in.  The County believed so and so did the Township.  Meanwhile, our financing was in order and everything felt right.  After a month of being the back-up offer with 3 agonizing extensions given to the people with the first offer, the sellers decided to cut their losses and go with us.  The cabin was ours!