EMINENT DOMAIN & RIGHT-OF-WAY
Eminent domain appraisers for southern Minnesota and the Upper Midwest
Just compensation appraisals, appraisal reviews, and expert testimony for partial takings, flowage easements, and total acquisitions — prepared by an MAI-designated appraiser based in southern Minnesota with nearly three decades on agricultural, rural, and commercial property — for landowners, attorneys, and acquiring agencies wherever the project is.
Who we work for
Brovold & Company prepares appraisals for both sides of an acquisition. Landowners and their attorneys retain us to establish what a taking actually costs the remaining property; condemning authorities and their right-of-way consultants retain us for acquisition appraisals and for independent review of reports already in hand.
Whichever side engages us, the analysis is the same: an impartial, market-supported before-and-after valuation that will withstand review by opposing counsel, a commissioners’ panel, or a jury.
Whichever side engages us, the analysis is the same: an impartial, market-supported before-and-after valuation that will withstand review by opposing counsel, a commissioners’ panel, or a jury.
Property types
• Cropland, pasture, and farmsteads — including tiled and irrigated land• Rural residential acreages and building sites• Commercial and industrial properties with access or frontage impacts• Cropland subject to flowage easements — inundation zones, staging areas, and flood-control project footprints• Highway, transmission-line, and pipeline corridors
SERVICES
What we provide
Before-and-after appraisals
Value of the whole property before the taking, value of the remainder after, and a clear allocation between the part taken and damages to the remainder — the framework courts and commissioners expect.
Flowage & easement valuation
Flowage, drainage, temporary construction, utility, and access easements, valued by the rights actually taken and the burden they leave on the land — including the depth, frequency, and duration of inundation — not by a rule-of-thumb percentage.
Severance damages & cost to cure
Analysis of lost access, uneconomic remnants, drainage disruption, field-pattern inefficiency, and building setbacks, with cost-to-cure estimates where a cure is feasible and cheaper than the damage.
Appraisal review & rebuttal
Technical review of the opposing appraisal under USPAP Standard 3: methodology, comparable selection, adjustments, and whether conclusions are supported. Written rebuttal for negotiation or hearing.
Expert testimony
Testimony at commissioners’ hearings, in depositions, and at trial in state district court, presented so that non-appraisers can follow the reasoning.
Consulting
Pre-condemnation advice on likely value ranges, settlement analysis, and evaluation of quick-take offers before an owner responds.
FLOWAGE EASEMENTS
FLOOD-CONTROL & DIVERSION PROJECTS
PARTIAL TAKINGS & REMAINDERS
TRANSMISSION LINE EASEMENTS
PIPELINE CORRIDORS
HIGHWAY & ROAD PROJECTS
HOW EMINENT DOMAIN WORKS
What a taking is, and how compensation is measured
Eminent domain is the power of a government — or a utility or pipeline company acting under authority delegated by the state — to acquire private property for a public use. The Fifth Amendment permits the taking but requires just compensation, and Minnesota Statutes Chapter 117 sets the procedure.
Condemnation is the legal process used to exercise that power when the owner and the acquiring agency cannot agree on a price.
Inverse condemnation is the reverse: the owner brings the action, claiming the government has taken or damaged the property without formally condemning it.
Most eminent domain work in southern Minnesota is not a total acquisition but a partial taking — a strip of farmland for a highway widening, an easement for a transmission line, or the right to flood a field during a flood-control event. Compensation in a partial taking is measured by the before-and-after method: the value of the whole property before the taking, less the value of what remains after it. The difference includes both the land or rights actually taken and any severance damage — the loss in value to the remainder caused by the project, such as an irregular field shape, lost access, drainage problems, or restrictions on future use. Where a damage can be fixed for less than the value it destroys, the appraisal measures the cost to cure instead.
The acquiring agency’s appraisal is only one opinion of these numbers. Minnesota law entitles an owner to an independent appraisal, and in most cases reimburses its cost.
TYPES OF TAKINGS AND EASEMENTS WE APPRAISE
• Total acquisitions and partial takings of agricultural, commercial, and residential property• Highway and county road right-of-way, including access changes and frontage-road conversions• Flowage easements and flood-control project impacts — temporary inundation, staging areas, levees and diversion channels• Electric transmission line and substation easements• Pipeline easements — permanent corridors and temporary construction workspace• Drainage, utility, and trail easements• Temporary construction easements and right-of-entry• Severance damage and cost-to-cure analysis for remainder parcels• Review of the acquiring agency’s appraisal and rebuttal reports• Expert testimony before commissioners, in district court, and in mediation
EXPERIENCE
Featured project experience
Recent and ongoing eminent domain and right-of-way assignments. Landowner clients are not named; project sponsors are public record.
Fargo-Moorhead Metro Flood Risk Management Project
Cass & Richland County, ND; Clay & Wilkin County, MN. Just compensation appraisals and technical reviews for agricultural landowners in the Upstream Mitigation Area: permanent flowage easements, staging-area acquisitions, and partial takings across multiple operating farms, including certified-organic and CRP acreage. Before-and-after analysis by inundation zone, rebuttal of condemnor appraisals, and support through negotiation and litigation.
MnDOT Trunk Highway Right-of-Way
Yellow Medicine County, MN. Independent before-and-after appraisal of a partial taking from an agricultural tract for a state highway project, including analysis of access, field-pattern, and remainder effects.
City of Mankato — 3rd Avenue Reconstruction
Blue Earth County CSAH 5, Mankato, MN. Permanent and temporary right-of-way easement appraisals for multiple commercial and residential parcels along an urban reconstruction corridor.
Training and standards
Trevor has completed the Appraisal Institute’s Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions (“Yellow Book”) seminar and the MnDOT Right of Way Professional’s Workshop, and follows the specific statutory framework of each state in which he works, including Minnesota Chapter 117 and North Dakota Chapter 32-15.
FOR LANDOWNERS
If you have received an offer
An acquiring agency’s offer is based on its appraisal — you are entitled to your own. In many states, including Minnesota, an owner may be reimbursed for a reasonable appraisal fee once a condemnation petition is filed, and you may present your own evidence of value.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Consult an eminent domain attorney regarding your rights and deadlines.
SERVICE AREA
Eminent domain appraisal in southern Minnesota
Brovold & Company is based in Mankato and has appraised takings and easements throughout southern Minnesota since 1997 — MnDOT trunk highway projects, county highway reconstructions, municipal street and utility projects, transmission lines, pipelines, and drainage and flood-control work. We know the farmland markets, the county recorders, and the local sales that thin rural data depend on.
Counties served regularly: Blue Earth, Nicollet, Le Sueur, Brown, Watonwan, Martin, Faribault, Waseca, Steele, Rice, Freeborn, Mower, Dodge, Olmsted, Sibley, Renville, Redwood, Cottonwood, Jackson, Nobles, Murray, Lyon, Yellow Medicine, Lincoln, Pipestone, and Rock. Cities include Mankato, North Mankato, St. Peter, New Ulm, Fairmont, Albert Lea, Austin, Owatonna, Faribault, Rochester, Worthington, Marshall, Waseca, St. James, and Blue Earth.
BEYOND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA
Statewide, North Dakota, and the Upper Midwest
Licensed as a Certified General appraiser in Minnesota and North Dakota, with eminent domain assignments in the Twin Cities metro, the Minnesota River and Red River valleys, and the Fargo–Moorhead region, including the Fargo-Moorhead Metro Flood Risk Management Project. Assignments have also been completed in South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Eminent domain appraisal FAQ
What is a before-and-after appraisal?
The appraiser values the entire property as it existed before the taking, then values what remains after the taking as if the project were complete. The difference is just compensation — it captures both the land taken and any damage (or benefit) to the remainder.
How is a flowage or temporary easement valued?
By the rights acquired and their effect on the land. A flowage easement that permits periodic inundation of cropland may take a large share of value even though title stays with the owner; a short construction easement may be valued as a rental of the area for the term. Each is analyzed on its facts, not a fixed percentage.
Can the same appraiser work for agencies and landowners?
Yes, and it strengthens the work. USPAP requires impartiality regardless of who pays the fee. Having prepared and reviewed reports on both sides, we know where an appraisal is likely to be challenged and address it before it is.
What should I send you first?
The acquiring agency’s offer letter, the parcel sketch or right-of-way plat showing what is being taken, any appraisal you have received, and a legal description of the whole property. From those we can tell you what an independent analysis would involve.
TREVOR L. BROVOLD, MAI
Talk through the taking before you respond
Send the offer letter, the parcel sketch, and any appraisal you have received, and we will tell you what an independent analysis would involve.