Re-establishing Survey Corners and Way Points?

[newbury]

I can never understand why somebody would spend 6 figures or more for a house on a small lot... and forgo a few thousand more to make sure they know what they own.

In my case in Alexandria I'm pretty sure the guy that bought the other house had a good idea he didn't own the extra 2 feet and figured if he got it put in concrete drive I'd be the loser.

Another couple of survey things that have happened to me -
Back about 1962 my Dad and Grandad bought "20 acres, more or less" in Essex Center, Vermont. We built a duplex on it, several sheds etc. Wonderful place.
Lot ran from the road to about 10 feet on top of a cliff.
When he went to sell it in about 1984 he got it surveyed, turned out to be over 30 acres. Price increased significantly

When we went to buy our house in Mississippi it was being sold as on a 2.5 acre lot. Turned out to be a 3.5 acre lot for the same price.

 

[oosik]

In the land of mortals ( 4500 sq ft ) - the man with a one or two acre lot is king. I would participate in the survey - couple hundred dollars - AND expect to receive a CC of the completed survey.

 

[Diggin It]

I have not been able to find the pins shown on my property's 1989 survey...

The street has been repaved and 5 years back the city dug up and replaced city sewer line running under shared property line taking out the pins.

Sounds like the City needs to be paying for this new survey.

With lots running a million dollars an acre ...

... people move to the country.

I can never understand why somebody would spend 6 figures or more for a house on a small lot...

Me neither.

$5-6K or more for a survey is why I maintain that whole process needs to be simplified, or done away with and have county surveyors do it all.

 

[Jstpssng]

I spent a year doing mortgage loan inspections and saw some funky things. One in town lot seemed considerably wider than the deed described... there was a phantom street in the plat which was never built. I attempted another on a lakefront home which had to be refinanced before they lost it to the bank; the survey they included with the request showed that the house was over the line by several feet. There was a million dollar home built on a small lot; in 1987, that was a lot of money to spend on a house. It wasn't until time to apply for the final loan that they discovered it was built 11 inches too close to the property line to pass local zoning ordinances; one abutter refused to sign off on a variance, so they had to move the house.
Talk about "Welcome to the neighborhood..."

 

[Jstpssng]

$5-6K or more for a survey is why I maintain that whole process needs to be simplified,

There's more to it than going out and slapping pins in the ground; if that was the case, even I could be a surveyor. There's a fair amount of research involved, not just of your deed but others as well. Often descriptions don't match what's on the ground, and he has to interpolate what's there. They are professionals and deserve professional wages, just as you expected when you were in the work force.

or done away with and have county surveyors do it all.

Why should the rest of us pay to have your land surveyed?

 

[Diggin It]

Why should the rest of us pay to have your land surveyed?

Since deeds and the associated mapping, taxing records, permits and zoning/coding rules are essentially government documents and all may affect municipal or county lines in a number of ways, only government employees should be involved in boundaries. The disputes would be eliminated as would the greed.

Lines would be standardized and consistent no matter how many times a plot was bought or sold.


'This is it and that's that.'

 

[LouNY]

Since deeds and the associated mapping, taxing records, permits and zoning/coding rules are essentially government documents and all may affect municipal or county lines in a number of ways, only government employees should be involved in boundaries. The disputes would be eliminated as would the greed.

Lines would be standardized and consistent no matter how many times a plot was bought or sold.


'This is it and that's that.'

So more governmental interference and meddling, unelected bureaucratic twits to put up with.
Yep, just what is needed.
And what do you mean lines would be standardized and consistent.
If your property is surveyed and the corners are pined properly and no one moves the pins,
how do you get more consistent.
If two surveys don't agree then it's time for a third and thats when it's going to get nasty and it
would make no difference who did the surveying.
Are you saying consistent because of the numerous ways of measurement have changed over the years.
From Chains and links or Rods to feet and tenths of a foot, thats just a simple conversion.

 

[LouNY]

I should add that I find almost none of these discussions apply to my property.
As my entire lot is bounded and described as so many feet roughly in all directions by stone walls.
These stone walls are the boundary, no points or other dimensions are labeled, no latitude or longitude,
no mention of monuments or other locating standards.

 

[ddbackhoe]

Getting surveys done with a sale is very area dependent. In my area less than 10% of sales require a survey. Some areas lenders will require it. If you read most title insurance policies they won’t insure a problem that a survey would uncover.

A house location survey is different than a boundary line check or a corner locate or a monument install. In an instance like this the onus is on the buyer to see “proof”. As a neighbor, I would not pay for their ”proof”.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I can never understand why somebody would spend 6 figures or more for a house on a small lot... and forgo a few thousand more to make sure they know what they own.

Another way to look at it, they get a piece of paper and no one explains to them what all the terms mean. Right of ways, conveyances and easements are rarely explained to a homeowner. Most real estate agents I have encountered could not look at a plat and notice any of those designations either.
A guy recently purchased a 7 acre lot. Brought us an outline plan for construction of house, parking and detached garage/workshop. He was upset when we showed him what could be done. Why? Between setbacks, easements and forest conservation, he had less than a 1/3 acre that was actually buildable.