Sometimes it's worth it to hire a land surveyor

[sandman2234]

Around here more than 95% of property gets bought and sold without a survey. Commercial might be the exception.

Around here, there are no mortgage company's, banks, or credit unions that will loan money on a parcel of property without a recent survey, and current title insurance. At the time of my last purchase, the survey had to be less than 90 days old. I am fixing to find out how recent it has to be currently, because we are looking at purchase of another property.
David from jax

 

[bcp]

Not required here. I asked about it and was told they are selling the property as legally described. The new owner has to figure out where that is.

Bruce

 

[JPRambo]

When i was looking to buy my <7 acres, one of the neighbors (Robert) knew the property well. It was his sisters and it was given to her by their father. Robert walked the property line with us, through the forest and up and down the elevations. He followed the fence lines and some white PVC pipe that was used to show the property lines. But I wanted a fence and settled on T-poles or wood posts and barbed wire. The land it basically a rectangle, The 4 main corners were marked very well. Since I purchased it there has been two lots surveyed and corners established. In the picture the green line is a cow pasture with barbed wire. The yellow is woodland and had barbed wire that was mostly on the ground. My wife and I put in some wood posts and raised the wire onto the posts and close-enough trees. Purple dots represent new property corners. White dots show where the PVC pipe was marking supposed property line that after survey was as much as 30 feet off the true line. Red oval is neighbor's (Scotty) dog pens. Scotty was glad to hear he had more land than he thought, I guess he di not do a survey either..

 

[dodge man]

Most title insurance has an exclusion that they won’t cover any problems a current and accurate boundary survey would show. In other words if you have a major problem and a survey would have disclosed it you are out of luck. A major problem being something like a house or building being over the boundary.

About three years ago I surveyed a property where about 80% of the house was over the line. The adjoining owner was willing to exchange ground to keep the property the same size but cover the house and yard. The people buying it were savvy enough to know there was a problem.

 

[two_bit_score]

Around here more than 95% of property gets bought and sold without a survey. Commercial might be the exception.

Probably close to that in most areas. In the past, if the owner had a recent survey and I could tell nothing had changed I’ve done it.

There is one street I know of in a subdivision where the landowner went in and moved all the survey stakes one evening because he said he wanted to make sure the buyers were getting a full sized lot and all those looked small.

Yes, he was a bit goofy but if the surveyor had not noticed it the next day it could have led to a lot of problems later on.

 

[two_bit_score]

Not required here. I asked about it and was told they are selling the property as legally described. The new owner has to figure out where that is.

Bruce

So, are you always ok with accepting the minim legal requirements when your investments are possibly at stake?

 

[fried1765]

Around here, there are no mortgage company's, banks, or credit unions that will loan money on a parcel of property without a recent survey, and current title insurance. At the time of my last purchase, the survey had to be less than 90 days old. I am fixing to find out how recent it has to be currently, because we are looking at purchase of another property.
David from jax

Not required here. I asked about it and was told they are selling the property as legally described. The new owner has to figure out where that is.

Bruce

That is the most common routine.

 

[bcp]

So, are you always ok with accepting the minim legal requirements when your investments are possibly at stake?

It was a nearby property. About 50 years ago when it was subdivided, the properties (hilly) were measured, not surveyed. Surveys showed the measured markers were about 20-30 feet off. I asked the realtor the question about a survey being required by anyone, as new buyers may not be getting what was marked.

Bruce

 

[Jstpssng]

Around here, there are no mortgage company's, banks, or credit unions that will loan money on a parcel of property without a recent survey, and current title insurance. At the time of my last purchase, the survey had to be less than 90 days old. I am fixing to find out how recent it has to be currently, because we are looking at purchase of another property.
David from jax

Survey, or mortgage inspection? The first is a lot more detailed, while the latter merely examines what evidence is there and reports obvious problems.

 

[dodge man]

I’m still licensed as a surveyor in Illinois but mostly retired. I got my license in 1992 and in all that time I never did a mortgage inspection. You don’t even have to find property corners to do one. I just figured you weren’t getting much for your money.