What is a Flag Lot?
According to Real Estate Wiki a flag lot is: A parcel of land which is typically located behind another lot facing a main street that is in the shape of a flag on a pole which provides access to the site.
Flag lots are found in most Los Angeles neighborhoods and are fairly common in certain communities such as La Canada. Many La Canada homeowners had large parcels of land which were subdivided to make smaller lots which were then sold.
Benefits that might be found in a flag lot are that they sometimes offer more privacy and less traffic. A negative aspect of a flag lot is that guest parking is often difficult.
If you are purchasing a home on a flag lot it is important to learn if there is a recorded road maintenance agreement. This agreement will spell out who is responsible for maintaining the private driveway/road. Distribution of maintenance costs in these agreements vary; in some, each homeowner equally splits the cost of repairs. While in others the first home may be responsible for the road leading to their home, the 2nd home the area from the first to the 2nd and so on.
If there is no written agreement, whenever the drive needs repair, you will need to negotiate the costs with your neighbors. If you have further questions pertaining to flag lots or real estate, remember I am only a phone call or email away.
Flag lots are found in most Los Angeles neighborhoods and are fairly common in certain communities such as La Canada. Many La Canada homeowners had large parcels of land which were subdivided to make smaller lots which were then sold.
Benefits that might be found in a flag lot are that they sometimes offer more privacy and less traffic. A negative aspect of a flag lot is that guest parking is often difficult.
If you are purchasing a home on a flag lot it is important to learn if there is a recorded road maintenance agreement. This agreement will spell out who is responsible for maintaining the private driveway/road. Distribution of maintenance costs in these agreements vary; in some, each homeowner equally splits the cost of repairs. While in others the first home may be responsible for the road leading to their home, the 2nd home the area from the first to the 2nd and so on.
If there is no written agreement, whenever the drive needs repair, you will need to negotiate the costs with your neighbors. If you have further questions pertaining to flag lots or real estate, remember I am only a phone call or email away.
Posted by Phyllis Harb at 1/24/2012 1:37 AM 
Categories: A Buyer's Perspective
Tags: what is a flag lot
Categories: A Buyer's Perspective
Tags: what is a flag lot
Interesting post and a good reminder on sorting out the road agreement --- it reminds me of my commercial real estate days, where a couple deals on flag lots were nixed when the size of the road per the informal agreement with the neighbors was different than the legal/title agreements.
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That is really interesting...being a realtor in Philadelphia, I had never heard of a "Flag Lot"
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Very interesting. I've never seen anything like this in Albuquerque but if I ever do now I'll know what to look out for.
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