Buying 40 Acres- being surveyed- keep neighbors happy

[jinman]

Good luck, I bought 47 acres, I had to survey the property, 1200.00 bucks.
Neighbor says tough crap, he dosen't care what the survey says, he's been farming 3' X 1/2 mile of my land for years, and is his by adverse possession.
I'll be interested on how you make out.

Bill, I think I'd tell your neighbor that I was going to take "adverbial possession" of my property. That is quickly. I'd also give him firm orders to stay off my property and explain trespassing and criminal trespassing. If he comes onto your land which you have identified with proper authority (the survey) after you have given him notice, and he does any damage to a stucture you have built (like a fence), then he exposes himself to much higher penalty that's normally enforced as a criminal penalty instead of a civil case.

If he already had a crop planted, what I would probably do is to tell the gent that I would lease him the land and write up an agreement to do that for $1 until he could harvest his crop. Be sure to set a specific date for termination of the lease. Then, after the lease period, I'd do my fence or take full possession of my land. I'd probably offer that before making any other demands. Take the "high road" first.

 

[Brokermike]

I'd love to know more about these $1200 surveys. I just ordered a survey and my first quote for 10 acres was nearly $3,000!!!

 

[Paddy]

flathead,

When you have the survey, have them mark 5 points along each line. Corner pins can be found easy down the road. But when you have a line 1000' + going through hills and woods, it's pretty tough. If you ever set a fence, you'll be glad there marked!

Good luck with the new land, it looks very nice. Nice mix of woods and open.

Patrick T.

 

[Unclebuck257]

Bill, I think I'd tell your neighbor that I was going to take "adverbial possession" of my property. That is quickly. I'd also give him firm orders to stay off my property and explain trespassing and criminal trespassing. If he comes onto your land which you have identified with proper authority (the survey) after you have given him notice, and he does any damage to a stucture you have built (like a fence), then he exposes himself to much higher penalty that's normally enforced as a criminal penalty instead of a civil case.

If he already had a crop planted, what I would probably do is to tell the gent that I would lease him the land and write up an agreement to do that for $1 until he could harvest his crop. Be sure to set a specific date for termination of the lease. Then, after the lease period, I'd do my fence or take full possession of my land. I'd probably offer that before making any other demands. Take the "high road" first.

Excellent advice and you would be smart to follow it to the letter. The longer your neighbor gets away with what he's doing, WITH YOUR KNOWLEDGE, the worse your position might be IF you wind up having to go to court.

 

[BungeeII]

People seem to have that same fear of squatters rights that they do of punishing their children. You hear it all the time, "you're not allowed to punish your children any more".

The turn-around on the driveway for the neighbor ~might~ be a problem. If they built an outbuilding that was accessible only by your drive, then you decided one day to deny them access to the drive, they might have a fight. The whole thing can get sticky, but it's ultimately your property.

Being nice is a good thing.

I would say don't preoccupy yourself with the neighbor thing. I can't say that I blame you if you do, I've been there and done that. The property line is what the property line is. You didn't put it there. You didn't negotiate where it is. You didn't build, construct or design the tools by which it's located and marked. It's a property line, get over it. This is a simple matter-of-fact kind of thing. Telling your neighbors your plan for the property might be nice for them to hear. They may be thinking you're putting in a trailer park for all they know. Now that you own and insure the property, you're not comfortable giving anyone permission to ride their equipment on the land. Nothing personal, you just don't want the liability. Will it be well received by the neighbors? I don't know. I know that our neighbor ended up selling their dirt bike after they no longer had a place to ride. What, was I supposed to not provide a house for my family so that neighbor kids had somewhere to ride? You're in the same boat. There's a 50/50 chance you're going to tick somebody off just for having purchased the property alone. You have to not worry about it. Think long-term and be kind, but don't become preoccupied with ensuring each and every neighbor has received the warm fuzzies from you. If you're a good neighbor, you'll prove it over time, not convince them of it before you've even built a home there. First impressions certainly matter, but if someone's going to bent out of shape over the property line, it's going to happen no matter how nice a guy you are.

 

[Bill Barrett]

I'd love to know more about these $1200 surveys. I just ordered a survey and my first quote for 10 acres was nearly $3,000!!!

I thought that was interesting that his and mine were the same. Mine was a pita too, big radius around ditch, land under water, they were back 3 or 4 times.

 

[Willis Fecon Bushhogging]

I know I've beat a dead horse on this but we are getting closer to owning 40 acres.

I've watched the property line disputes in the other threads and I'd really like to avoid that.

I'm paying asking price for this land but the seller has agreed to pay for suveying- which I'm sure is VERY expensive...the tree lines are grown and I couldn't find a survey all the way back to 1834 or so.

This pc. of land is surrounded by others. I know most of the neighbors fairly well- or at least friend of a friend type thing. I work with one lady. This property is litterally another guy's back yard and my driveway is pretty close to a widow's house. And, she uses the driveway to make her's loop around. She keeps it cut and mowed in turn for use of about 60' of driveway. This was a verbal agreement between she and the owner that has it now (they've been doing this for years). I don't mind this agreement as long as she or the next person doesn't try to claim it for their own.

So, what I'm asking, is should I politely go talk to a couple of these neighbors so there is no "shock" that this property sold and that some of their habbits (hunting, ATV riding) is about to change. I don't care that they do it. I just don't want a surveyor to go out there and place some temp and permanent markers, only to have someone pull them out of the ground and throw them on my land. I know people "think" they know where the line is and "I've known the line was there for 50 years." Most people will think, "Well, that's just HIS surveyor and he'll pay them to make it say what he wants."

How much extra should I offer to pay to have some permanent pins put in? I know they'll put some but I want to make sure this is settled for me, my kids and their kids. I know that things come up, but 20 years from now, when some of the neighbors change and were not there to see the actual survey, I'd like to be able to dig just a little and say, "There it is." See where I'm coming from?

Any other advice?

I've been keeping this whole deal a secret (yeah, the internet is a secret! ) from those around the property. I didn't want anyone else to slide ahead of me. I'm preapproved for the loan, the bank is just waiting on the survey. I'm still hesitant to go introduce myself to some of the ones I don't know. But, then again, I'd like to let them know that there will be little flags up soon.

My first reply is, DONT tell no one, I thought I had a piece of land bought a few years ago, I was telling a so call friend of mine, how good of a deal I got. He went and offered the guy, more money and he took it.
All surveyors, put permernant steel rods in the ground and in most cases if there is a dispute, the disputers have to prove it.
After, the deed is in your name, I would talk to each neighbor and explain, that its your land now and you intend to fence your property and you hope it doesnt make anyone mad. Say Ive always wanted a fenced in property. Then do what you feel is right, but its hard to take away people privledges, that they have had for years, but now is the time to do it (after you own the land)
Just my 2 cents worth

 

[reb]

It might not apply to your area, but the surveys here were poorly done when the parcels were defined. Many parcels overlap, and there are strips which belong to no one. My property was surveyed when I purchased it. It turns out that the defining lines on two parcels overlap mine. There is a gap between mine and two others. The prepurchase survey did not discover those discrepancies. The gaps are a don't care, but the overlaps have caused some problems. I would suggest that you ensure that the surveyor verify your place doesn't have similar problems.

 

[streamin]

I bought 26 acres in upstate NY, one neighbor that his property backed up to mine had posted almost 5 acres in the back that he hunted and even put up a tree stand.The lawyer who was doing the closing had to make him sign a paper saying that he did not own that piece of my property.He also made a 4-wheeler trail across the back connecting his to mine. Havn't met him in person yet but the point is maybe you need a lawyer to make sure everthing is good.
BTW, my survey was around $800 and they flagged every 50 feet.

 

[MikeD74T]

I have 38 acres with one boundry described as "following the brook to where the fence crosses the brook, then following the fence to the road" (to a specific point based on frontage). Problematic as there's no evidence of the fence where that abuttor says there was one. There is a fence on "his" side of the brook which he disputes as the boundry. Could make a difference of about 3 acres, all of which is wetlands and not usable to either of us. I've only owned this property for about 10 years but have known the abuttor since 1956 and consider our friendship as something of value. My property was subdivided from his in the late 50's, before his parents bought their side, so I can be made whole by determining a boundry that provides a total of 38 acres. Fortunately the state of NH has statutes that allow abuttors to reach agreement on disputed boundries with a mutually agreeable and recorded survey. Last year I got an estimate of $1500 to survey my boundries. Bear in mind the surveyer did 2/3 of the survey for abuttors previously which simplifies the task.
I'm replacing the long lost fence on those two sides this summer based on abuttors' surveys as I have no reason to doubt them.

In your shoes I'd put in fences with gates where you are willing to allow access. Locking the gate is easy enough if things don't work out. I second the old addage that good fences make good neighbors. MikeD74T

An interesting side note to my property. When subdivided in the 50's, for a poor elderly couple to build a home on, the subdivision was never properly recorded. A couple of years later the original land owner went bankrupt on federal farm land loans. Because of the lack of documentation the couple faced eviction by the federal government in spite of testimony by many citizens regarding the validity of the subdivision & payment. Ultimately they had to pay for the land a second time to remain. The family that now owns the original piece donated substancially toward their repurchase.