Cost to Survey 80 Acres

[bcp]

I'm just a slacker Missourian. Why would the buyer pay for a survey if it's in question???

I asked that same question and was told someone would buy it anyway, so why should the seller pay?

Bruce

 

[ovrszd]

Depends on where the property and the local laws. In Texas your property is either part of an legally incorporated area (such as sub-division or in a city limits) or in an unincorporated zone (i.e. rural area). If you are in an unincorporated area, you have to have a boundary survey for a transfer of title.

And that is the buyer's responsibility???? If yes,,,, are your sure???? If so, I don't understand that at all....

 

[ovrszd]

I asked that same question and was told someone would buy it anyway, so why should the seller pay?

Bruce

Someone will buy land without a legal description??? Okay,,, maybe,,,, if the buyer negotiates the cost of the survey into the buying price. In that case, I get it.

 

[mjw357]

Someone will buy land without a legal description??? Okay,,, maybe,,,, if the buyer negotiates the cost of the survey into the buying price. In that case, I get it.

OP didn't really say why he was shopping for surveys. Chances are the legal description reads something like 'the NE 1/4 and the SE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of section 16 of'… Perfectly legit unless the county engineer requires a new survey, which may be the case.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Most buyers will pay for a survey just to make sure there is no issue with property lines. My sister was looking to buy some property, paid for a survey and found that there was some issues with the property lines that might have made the property unusable due to legal issues. It sometimes pays to have a clean survey done.
We found that our property lines on the property that we bought were off by as much as 150 feet on the southeast corner. Luckily the other property owner had no issue with correcting the fence line.

 

[westcliffe01]

It cost about $900 to get one side of a 0.3 acre subdivision lot surveyed (2 pins of which 1 was in dispute). Both lots cleared, homes built on them, no brush etc. Surveyor had to bring his metal detector to find the buried pins and then take out the high accuracy GPS system to verify that the disputed pin had not been tampered with.

Neighbors wife had historically marked "our" side of their driveway (supposedly the legal boundary) with a row of rocks about 8-12" in diameter. We noticed that every time we went on a 2 week camping trip, the shape of the line was changing (deviating further and further onto our property. She was digging up our sod, moving the rocks and then laying more gravel. In the meantime, she extended her flower beds on the opposite side by their house, so that their driveway did not look like it was 30ft wide...

After the survey, the marker pin left their driveway about 4 ft wide. About 15 ft of driveway was on our property. The husband was very embarrassed. She had to remove pretty much all of her flower beds so that they had a driveway at all. Theoretically, the position of the house was likely not meeting setback requirements since they hardly had enough room to get out the garage and make the turn to the street.

Shortly after that, they had a new concrete driveway put in, right up to the boundary line.

 

[EdwardB]

OP didn't really say why he was shopping for surveys. Chances are the legal description reads something like 'the NE 1/4 and the SE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of section 16 of' Perfectly legit unless the county engineer requires a new survey, which may be the case.

I just want to know where the boundaries are, especially on the west wooded side.

 

[bcp]

It had a legal description, but no markers on the land. Banks, etc. did not require a survey, just a legal description. I think this area was originally "surveyed" with a compass and tape measure. Several properties were found with corner markers 20-50 feet from where a real surveyor marked them, and fences way off the real line. One owner said he pulled up those angle iron corner markers as he was tired of looking at them. Another has a structure on the line. Lines were all off by about the same angles.

My property's surveyed line is the black line in this sketch, but the old markers and fence were the red line. The ends and corners were 20 to 50 feet off.



Bruce

 

[Deere Dude]

If the buyer wants it and it is a good idea and he is willing to take a chance not getting it done, good for him. But if a few years down the road another buyer won't buy the property unless you survey it, he might have you by the nads, unless you could convince him it is not needed.

The cost depends also where the surveyor has to begin and how difficult it is to find the stakes. Also problems might arise from a previous survey. I had one survey quote on 7 acres that was $3000. The deed guy was able to quote it as a description because it was a lot cut off from the rest of the property by a road so I didn't have it done.

Another lot was estimated $1000 for a old lady selling me a 4 acre lot. The survey was in the deal so I didn't care. problems arose and the surveyor a boundary dispute with another property next door so that chewed more money up. Finally he stopped boosting his cut at $1400 because he felt guilty and sorry for the old lady. It was resolved and if it wasn't done then OI would have been stuck later.

Best to get an estimate but that is no guarantee.

 

[newbury]

I am looking at an 80 acre parcel (two square 40's) to purchase. I was quoted $1,650 to survey the property. Scope of work:

Tie into the necessary section corners in order to calculate the boundary.
Set ｽ iron rods with my survey caps or verify existing irons at the boundary corners.
Raise the boundary corners with 4 foot wooden lath and flagging.
Mark the west boundary line with 4 foot wooden lath and flagging spacing approximately every 100-200 feet (I will make sure they are intervisible).
Place a few 4 foot wooden lath with flagging along the north and east boundary lines.
Provide you a certified survey showing the results of the survey.

I have attached a photo. This seems quite reasonable to me. Thoughts?

Thoughts on price - reasonable

Depends on your location. We've paid about $1,000 to $1500 for rural parcels in Mississippi on the order of 80 to 100 acres. Last year I think I paid about $1500 for an intown lot in Northern Virginia.
/edit - Mississippi had minimal marking, Virginia had 4 corner posts on a half acre lot. On the Virginia half acre they deployed 2 trucks and four people for about an hour.

Thoughts on the need for a good recorded survey:

Well I thought I pretty well knew where the corners were in my Virginia lot. Until they marked it :

View attachment 391984
On the left is my neighbors, on the right is my property

My survey and a subsequent survey showed that when the county put in the driveway apron they shifted the line well onto my land. My neighbor on the left was about to put in a concrete driveway going straight back from the pink flag and bordering the wooden well cover you see in the back. He was going to effectively go straight back from the concrete apron and a little wider.

After he got his survey he changed his mind.

My parents bought 20 acres (so they thought) in Vermont in 1963, fully fenced but not surveyed. When they went to sell it in 1980 and had it surveyed it had grown to a little over 30 acres.

Good fences make good neighbors.
Good surveys are needed for good fences.