I learned this the hard way on a 34-acre parcel I nearly bought three years back. The access easement existed on paper, looked clean in the title search, and the seller swore it was plenty wide enough. What nobody told me — and what I didn't think to ask — was that the recorded width was 10 feet. Sounds fine until you realize that's barely enough for a single-lane truck, let alone a trailer rig hauling a side-by-side or UTV. Turnaround was impossible without crossing onto the adjacent property, which the neighbor made very clear he wasn't allowing.
I walked from that deal. Good thing too, because that easement width would've choked off any practical use of the land for me. Now I won't even schedule a showing unless I know the access easement is at minimum 20 feet wide and I've physically driven it.
Conventional wisdom says just confirm an easement exists. I'd argue the width and surface condition matter just as much as the legal existence. Anyone else run into easement width being the actual dealbreaker?