All property has a legal description in the deed but not necessarily a plat map. They would only have this if the propty was surveyed and the survey was recorded in the register of deeds office.
I can only go by my experience, I’m not a surveyor and perhaps you are. But when I have gone to the county records office to get a map of the farm, they had maps of every piece of property in the county. They found mine, ran me a copy, and I was on my way.
BTW, $3500 sounds a lot closer than $400 for the cost of a true survey. Again, just my experience.
Here in Iowa a friend of mine had his acerage (6-8 acers) surveyed and i remember it was gonig to cost more in the spring and summer time because it would take longer with all the "green stuff". If done in the fall/winter it was much faster, easier, and cheaper. just a thought even without the cost factor, i wouldn't wait till spring to have it done.
You CANNOT go by your county's GIS lines. If it were that easy, everyone would be a surveyor and I would be out of a job. The lines are accurate but not precise. The old Accuracy vs Precision, yes the lines are in the general area but they aren't precisely correct and even if they were do you think you're going to find your corner? What tree do you think that falls on, between what bush and branch are you going to measure. Once again, if you go to the local court house and find your deed and adjoining properties you might find clues on theirs. Something like a dimension from a Pin Oak or a slashed tree, etc etc. I just hate to see someone claim they know where they found their properties because they looked at a tax map on their county GIS and then a dispute happens and then you're all in court and the neighbor is right. Happens all the time in real estate transactions, a realtor thinks they know where the line is and tell the new owners that they would own that and they actually don't.
I can only go by my experience, I’m not a surveyor and perhaps you are. But when I have gone to the county records office to get a map of the farm, they had maps of every piece of property in the county. They found mine, ran me a copy, and I was on my way.
BTW, $3500 sounds a lot closer than $400 for the cost of a true survey. Again, just my experience.
Yeah I'm a surveyor, what they are probably printing is a tax map, which is an approximation. Unless it has a surveyors seal on it, it can't be trusted.
And cost of a survey is all relative to what needs to be done. People don't realize the unseen work that is involved. There's hours and hours of deed research searching out-conveyances, easements, rights of way, overlaps, gaps, etc. and on top of that there are a tremendous amount of laws we must adhere to relating to accuracy of our work, improvements we are required to located on or near property lines, ties to published control monuments if they are within 2000 feet of the property, if subject to corners can't be found we have to go outside the property to find neighbors property corners to be able to reset the subject corners, not to mention the thousands of dollars we spend on equipment and insurance. It's a LOT more complicated than just coming out and finding your corners and charging you $3500. You guys who are complaining should go find out what it takes to become a licensed surveyor and then tell me $3500 is too much for a survey.
Yeah I'm a surveyor, what they are probably printing is a tax map, which is an approximation. Unless it has a surveyors seal on it, it can't be trusted.
And cost of a survey is all relative to what needs to be done. People don't realize the unseen work that is involved. There's hours and hours of deed research searching out-conveyances, easements, rights of way, overlaps, gaps, etc. and on top of that there are a tremendous amount of laws we must adhere to relating to accuracy of our work, improvements we are required to located on or near property lines, ties to published control monuments if they are within 2000 feet of the property, if subject to corners can't be found we have to go outside the property to find neighbors property corners to be able to reset the subject corners, not to mention the thousands of dollars we spend on equipment and insurance. It's a LOT more complicated than just coming out and finding your corners and charging you $3500. You guys who are complaining should go find out what it takes to become a licensed surveyor and then tell me $3500 is too much for a survey.
Yeah I'm a surveyor, what they are probably printing is a tax map, which is an approximation. Unless it has a surveyors seal on it, it can't be trusted.
And cost of a survey is all relative to what needs to be done. People don't realize the unseen work that is involved. There's hours and hours of deed research searching out-conveyances, easements, rights of way, overlaps, gaps, etc. and on top of that there are a tremendous amount of laws we must adhere to relating to accuracy of our work, improvements we are required to located on or near property lines, ties to published control monuments if they are within 2000 feet of the property, if subject to corners can't be found we have to go outside the property to find neighbors property corners to be able to reset the subject corners, not to mention the thousands of dollars we spend on equipment and insurance. It's a LOT more complicated than just coming out and finding your corners and charging you $3500. You guys who are complaining should go find out what it takes to become a licensed surveyor and then tell me $3500 is too much for a survey.
Some of these people might be Real Estate Agents here so we have to watch what we say :wink:.... They should be lucky it's only $3500. The ones that are going to cost you $500 are the flip and go guys... In, out, wham bam thank you ma'am here you go and they have someone they suckered into stamping your survey who probably doesn't even live in the area. Who, also should honestly lose their license to survey...
Doing it your way is a great way... Going by County GIS is wrong... you took the initiative and researched yourself, that's great. He's not saying it's not wrong he was saying how people complain about the money. Think of the research you did, but then add on legal law descriptions and other factors and that's what we do. If you can find set corners then that's great, but if you can't then a survey is needed for sure.
No kidding. People think you just show up to a house, start on a corner then mark the outline...a lot of work before you even step foot near the property. The bad thing is that there are both good and bad surveys.
I've had heated debates with lot locations because the typical surveyor was going by one property description. What he/they were failing to do was locate the USGS benchmark and start plotting from there. When you did, you found the start of the neighborhood was off by about 50' and at the wrong angle...why so off- easy the guy used the current location of the street not the one from 50 years ago when the subdivision was first created. Once I got him to go to the benchmark...he agreed.
That little bit of information helped him understand property line disputes a bit more. There is book smart, then there is experience. With my job as a landman being required to map square miles accurate to the foot, I found many, many errors over the years.
Got another case where there was a disput on property lines simply because the survey crew and landowner weren't using the proper deeds....though one was. Often, old town sites move or disappear. In this case there was an old rail road town that was absorbed by the neighboring city. The tracks were pulled up, town dispursed was no more. But, those legal descriptions still existed. Since it was common practice to simply go back 20 years for title...people were using the wrong maps. Mine came from the historical society and the old- very old plats in the back of the County Clerks office- not the current tax assessors plat. If you looked at the right map...there was a cross reference to the old town...and bingo- different source deeds, different plat references.
all this is likely moot for much of what the OP wants but just want to point out/support reasons as to why a proper survey is critical....as is errors and omitions insurance.
I may have to call a surveyor and get a price if that's the right way to do it I don't mind just going to have to save the money up. I may even have to get my grandpa who owns the land to pay it. Thanks for all your help and stoant I will be in touch with you soon. The property is fairly straight lines all the way around and I can always go talk to the neighboring property owners to figure out where the corners are. I know a lot of you are saying the survey thing and I get it, but I'm just looking to post it and get a bearing of where to cut a small food plot. But thanks for all your help it really has made me see the mess I could get into if I do this wrong.
check it out - you won't regret it - great service....great price...great support
for the record - I am not affliated in any way, just sharing an awesome tool....
Also, when it comes down to the day you are hanging the signs...you would be WELL served to notify as many of he landowners as possible, whose land abates your property, let them know your intentions and share the proposed lines. Prompts neighborly dialogue long before the hideous yellow signs go up and goes a LONG way with landowner relationships. Don't get me wrong, it isn't always peaches and cream, but getting it is as right as possible from the start is much more beneficial than squabbling over lines later....
check it out - you won't regret it - great service....great price...great support
for the record - I am not affliated in any way, just sharing an awesome tool....
Also, when it comes down to the day you are hanging the signs...you would be WELL served to notify as many of he landowners as possible, whose land abates your property, let them know your intentions and share the proposed lines. Prompts neighborly dialogue long before the hideous yellow signs go up and goes a LONG way with landowner relationships. Don't get me wrong, it isn't always peaches and cream, but getting it is as right as possible from the start is much more beneficial than squabbling over lines later....
One surveyor commented to a friend of mine that he would be reluctant to do a survey in the area he is in because the lines are so screwed up. What he was getting at is once solid lines were established, a lot of other landowners would be impacted by it. The surveyors suggestion was if all of the parties involved are relatively satisfied with the lines, continue to live by them and there would be a lot less heartache involved for everyone. Stone walls, fences, tree lines, rock piles, etc..
A paper company who had (since sold to individual) land abutting me had a survey done for a ROW to their holdings. We shared the same ROW. There was a notation that if it were ever found the southern boundary was in dispute, their ROW (66 feet) would move equidistant north with the correction. Not exactly a confidence builder but I guess it offers some level of protection.
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