Heard b ack from the surveyors today. Theyre gonna start tomorrow. I hope they know what theyre getting themselves into. I’ve managed to find all four ‘corners’ of the property but its a mix of official, semi-official, and I-think-thats-a-marker.
Corner #1: original marker from the 1915 Land Office survey
Corner #2: modern and official marker of recent installation
Corner #3: cairn of rocks with a sawed of t-post painted blue
Corner #4: fallen tree with a thin metal plate with notes scrived into it indicating border of property
Now, of those four only one could reasonably be considered definitive. Thus, the need for something beyond doubt. I have no intentions of doing anything close enough to the borders of my property that I’d be worried about encroaching onto my neighbor’s property. But I need to know so I can make sure the neighbors don’t encroach onto mine.
I’m hoping these guys will be done and have some info for me at the end of the week. Then its a matter of going up there, following the coords they give me, and seeing exactly where the boundaries of my property end and the neighbors begins.
Also, it’ll be nice to have a final bill as well. I’ve set aside a bunch of money in case of a ‘worst case scenario’ in terms of the amount of work they have to do. Hopefully, they can bring it in for less. But, until I know for sure I have to hold off on big spending so I have the money free to pay these guys.
And then the gun shop calls… 😉
Yeah, no kidding. I can resist anything except temptation.
Its a good feeling knowing your property borders. I hope you get good news. When property was described for sale, did it indicate the property had more than 4 straight sides ? Dealing with acute angled borders is a pita. The original ranch we were on had one of these property corners. The fence maintenance road running alongside the fence had to hairpin turn approximately 50 feet away from point, forcing us to clear small bushes that become trees in time. It did make a good hunting blind stand though.
Perfect rectangle with edges running N-S and E-W. Couldnt be any simpler.
10-4 – that is much easier to deal with.
When I bought our property in S.E.. Washington the deed said 19 acres. After I had it surveyed I found out I only had 14 acres and the lines didn’t match the fences.
Surveys are good to have done just in case. By the way, the county only refrunded 3 years of back taxes instead of all 20 years.
Since we moved into our property +30 yrs ago our neighbor has removed or destroyed 6 legal surveyors marks. Needless to say, local law enforcement says it’s a civil suit, not their problem. Even though it’s a felony. Here’s where karma come in. Same neighbor wanted to purchase some of my property. I told neighbor I would be happy to if only the neighbor paid for a new survey.
Sounds like you are expecting a bigish bill? What rates do surveyors charge in your area?
This was an interesting case. It appeared to not have been surveyed since the original land office survey 111 years ago. If that was the case, then they’d have to go find the corners of the entire section, and then start breaking it down until they got to my little chunk. If it came to that, I was told it would be around $7k. However, it looks like this will require quite a bit less effort than that, so I’m expecting it to be less expensive.
I’m kinda surprised you didn’t have a survey done before purchase to know exactly what you were buying. In my area, a survey is done anytime a new deed is drawn. I’m not sure if it’s the law or just common practice.
I’ve got an attorney friend who was involved in the sale of a farm. The early 1900s survey was off by 25 acres when the modern survey was done.
We have corners and section markers on our property with two to three different marks. They are all within a few feet of eachother. We have marks where the same survey company did the marking twice (in different dcades) and came up with different spots each time. I used to think it was an exact science, but apparently it isn’t. I’m told that the most recent survey mark filed with the county is considered the legally “most accurate”.
I’m like you, I used to think it was an exact science. It’s not.
Ask them to stake along all sides every twenty feet or so
learned surveying as part of the college engineering program – old school method – not even a range finder back then – old tape measure reel times …..
have updated with today’s GPS tech – talking about dead nutz – inches involved now >>> talking with the frequent survey teams that come thru the neighborhood – they improve & update almost every survey they do and add it to the official plot file with the County …..
the old surveys are alllll off – some of the rural/farm field plots are off by a few feet – an old old generational “understood” property line between farm fields well off the actual mark – makes a difference on the length/width of a 120 acre field …..