Need a Survey

MDNY · May 5, 2004

Thanks. I will be calling this week to say, hey I know your busy so who can you refer me to. I just need the property line marked every 100 FT so I can post my own sides and have a degree of security. I paid for my survey and the other guy obviously didn't. Not to mention couldn't stop by to say he was posting and do I know th lines.

MMM · May 6, 2004

Might be worth investing in a metal detector. My survey has corners marked with "2 foot iron rod (rebar) driven to within 1/2" of surface". Cost for 30acres-$1,200.

WVBill · May 6, 2004

A couple of years ago, for some reason they re-surveyed the border between West Virginia and Virginia along the top of the Blue Ridge. They found a number of homes that had been incorrectly surveyed and for years had been "residents" of the wrong State.

'course the gaining stated wanted the back taxes.. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

JRobyn · May 6, 2004

All very interesting.... In my neck of the woods, it seems that the going rate for a survey is $1000-$1200, no matter what the boundary/size. My property boundary originally included about 250 separate "calls" (direction/distance), many of which also included "ending at x" diameter red oak" or similar. The boundary generally follows the creek bottoms and goes through/over some essentially impassable thickets and nearly vertical slopes!

I took this original legal description of the property and entered all of the calls into some inexpensive survey software (Muncy's Plat Pronto, I think). The calls all came back and "closed" on the original start point with a very tiny closure error, which the software automatically adjusted. I then printed out the USGS aerial photos of my property, printed the plat boundary from the software to the same scale on clear copy sheets and overlayed them. Presto - an exact ID of my boundaries. Probably wouldn't hold up in court if there was some dispute, but good enough for most purposes. It was precise enough to satisfy me that the original calls/legal description described the property well enough that a new survery was not required when I bought the place.

We subsequently sold an interior chunk to my in-laws, about 20 acres, also following creek bottoms and trails, etc. It was all very quickly done by a crew with high-tech gadgets. The price? $1200.

EddieWalker · May 6, 2004

JRobyn,

I've been wanting somthing to figure acreage and draw up some Plat's, so when you mentioned Muncy's Plat Pronto I did a quick google search and found their webiste.

http://www.bwmuncy.com/

The price for the software is $100.

How hard is it to learn and would you recomend it?

Thanks,
Eddie

BRIGUY · May 7, 2004

If my crystal ball is correct, as soon as your neighbor (who is posting your land) sees the surveyors flags, will become instantly compliant.
I wouldn't discuss boundrys fences etc with the owners of the lots behind me, until I had the survey completed. Survey is done but I still need to go pick up the map and pay the balance. Ever since, every time my wife or I go out back someone new approaches us, wanting to discuss it. One guy whom I up to this point didn't care to much for has become rather friendly. This week he got a burning barrel (used to just throw his bush on my property) The horrible looking fence he installed last year is a couple feet on my side, and was put up with out a permit. He has offered to let me take it down and to tie my new one into his. What a guy.

I know it's off track but I'll tell you why I don't like the guy too much. I bought the property in jan 2003, after a 4 month unpleasant closing. I work 1/2 days and 1/2 nights. I would come home in the morning after a snow and find foot prints around my house. I talked to my buddy next door because they went through his front yard too. Nope It wasn't his kids getting their dog as I had hoped. We both got concerned and began to watch out. What really got us was the fact that the person stopped in front of my french doors on the back of the house. The room that my wife watches TV in at night. Fast forward to the next spring I'm tearing down the pool and deck built over my septic tank and leechfield (annother story) And the guy in question shows up wanting free wood. I told him to come over and take some off the deck (24'x26') before I finish taking it down. Two weeks later deck is down, all salvagable lumber cleaned of screws and stacked to go up in my loft, and pile of new lumber stacked next to used lumber. My tenant calls me at work and tells me the guy is there helping himself and says I said to take anything he wants (including new stuff). I come home The guy is at work by now, so I go on his land and load up all the wood and take it back, and put in the loft. The guy comes over can't understand why I took the wood back. He proceeds to point out some repairs that I need to make on the house that he noticed while WALKING HIS DOG AROUND MY HOUSE THE NIGHT BEFORE!!!!!!! I told him that wasn't such a good idea due to my temper and jumpy trigger finger. Now He thinks I'm crazy GOOD!!!! and doesn't speak to me untill I got the survey.

A good survey as well as providing peice of mind can also sort things out between you and an annoying neighbor without further confrontation.

SCB · May 7, 2004

Boy,
You are a much more patient man than me. If someone was walking around my house or even my property when I wasn't home, spying on my wife, I would be hard pressed to even say a word to him until I had put a knot on his head. I have a dispute on my propety as well. Survey is complete and waiting for it to be filed with the county. Once filed I will be butting heads with a neighbor who had a garage built (without permit) over the edge of the property line. Glad that yours is working out Bryguy.

MDNY · May 7, 2004

Lucky for me I have a very good survey and the corners were marked with steel in the ground. What bugs me and what I want to watch out for (appoligies in advance here) is hunting on my land. My wife and I enjoy the wildlife that comes to our property and we consider it protected while on our property, period. We understand that our neigbors hunt and one of our neighbors has permission to cross on our land during hunting season, but its clearlly understood no shooting into, on or off of our land. We enjoy the 30 or so turkeys, 20-30 deer, woodchucks (yes even they are fun to watch) squirells, rabbits, chipmunks and birds. Lots of activity and lots of enjoyment on our land. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I know the person who bought next to me purchased with the intent to hunt and at some point build on it. He can hunt but I don't want him taking liberty on my property just so he can get what he was aiming for.

So my task is small for a surveyor really only about 1100' needs to be marked since the first 500' is easy to follow down my driveway. Just bugs me that people will take liberty when they think non one is looking.

BRIGUY · May 7, 2004

I'm not as patient as you are giving me credit for. In fact my wife says that I must have gone to the Tony Soprano school of property management. I'm only patient when I don't want to get in trouble with my wife. Neighbors, tenants, authorities, etc don't scare me. My wife being P.O. does scare me.