Buying land survey

[buckhunter10]

Ok so if your looking to buy a parcel 150 acres say and the buyer selling it is asking you to get a survey before he/she will sell. What is the best way to go about this?
Most cost effective?

I got a buddy looking at some ground and I'm trying to help him. It looks like the piece has solid boundaries but it's a piece off a piece. Based on the area he wants it looks like two points are in question.

Any suggestions? One quote he got was 10k for a survey.

 

[OkieKubota]

Ok so if your looking to buy a parcel 150 acres say and the buyer selling it is asking you to get a survey before he/she will sell. What is the best way to go about this?
Most cost effective?

I got a buddy looking at some ground and I'm trying to help him. It looks like the piece has solid boundaries but it's a piece off a piece. Based on the area he wants it looks like two points are in question.

Any suggestions? One quote he got was 10k for a survey.

???buyer selling it???

 

[Satguy]

Ok so if your looking to buy a parcel 150 acres say and the buyer selling it is asking you to get a survey before he/she will sell. What is the best way to go about this?
Most cost effective?

I got a buddy looking at some ground and I'm trying to help him. It looks like the piece has solid boundaries but it's a piece off a piece. Based on the area he wants it looks like two points are in question.

Any suggestions? One quote he got was 10k for a survey.

You can get a spot survey and it is much cheaper than a full survey

 

[Bullwinkle]

Negotiate the splitting of the cost. I just did this and worked out well

 

[Satguy]

Negotiate the splitting of the cost. I just did this and worked out well

I did the same 2 years ago when I purchased my farm.

 

[OkieKubota]

Its not up to the seller to do a survey if it is not spelled out in the contract. When we purchased we had a good idea of where the boundaries were but since I was fencing it I wanted to know the exact line and I wanted it flagged to where I could see 1 flag from another one. Cost was $1k for this 80 acres to do it this way and I did not make the seller pay any of it...

If the seller is actively trying to sell and has listed the property for sale with stips on the survey then I would expect the seller to pay for the survey or sell as is...

 

[buckhunter10]

Ok seller is not actively trying to sell. He approached them so they ain't going to pay for the survey. Sorry for typos I'm in a phone.

I'll have to look into a few other options on this surveying and spot surveying. 1k doesn't seem bad at all. He said the guy wanted 10k for 160 acres. This was for a full boundray survey.

 

[j-bird]

What I did - not sure it's the right thing to do or not. And understand we sold to people we have a long history with....

We agreed to a price per acre based off general measurements from GIS maps.....to at least get a ballpark idea of the amount we are looking at. No point in doing the survey just to have the buyer back out. We then agreed to a surveyor and to split the cost of the survey...no survey....no sale. We felt a survey was mutually beneficial and thus we would split the cost. Everything went well, they paid the surveyor to start the process....we paid the surveyor when we got the survey (because I currently own the property). We had an agreement that IF we decided to back out of the sale we would pay for the entire survey. We then had a much more accurate figure on acreage and we drew up a purchasing agreement with a local lawyer and it was all pretty clean.

If you are buying I would insist on a survey (anyone prepared to actually sell should have this done already in advance in my opinion) AND a title history/search just to ensure there isn't something fishy going on. If you are approaching someone about buying - then you may need to at least offer to pay for 1/2 the survey cost......but you should understand what that cost is before that happens.

 

[X-farmerdan]

I'm confused about the point of the survey, especially since the potential seller is asking for it. Hear me out. Is the question about exactly where the current legal boundary is? Or, is it about the acreage involved? Me, being who I am, would go get a description of the boundaries and walk the property. It's kind amazing how you can pick out the landmarks. Take your GPS along and get some waypoints at what you think are the boundaries. Then manually put the points on Google earth md figure out the acreage...if that's the issue


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[Kabic]

I'm confused about the point of the survey, especially since the potential seller is asking for it. Hear me out. Is the question about exactly where the current legal boundary is? Or, is it about the acreage involved? Me, being who I am, would go get a description of the boundaries and walk the property. It's kind amazing how you can pick out the landmarks. Take your GPS along and get some waypoints at what you think are the boundaries. Then manually put the points on Google earth md figure out the acreage...if that's the issue

There isn't really picking out land marks (in property lines) when you get a little further West of the Eastern Seaboard.
Your property is described my metes and bounds where Ohio Wisconsin is not. We have neat little squares for the most part, it just determining where those lines are at.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System

 

[Elkaddict]

I've got little different take on this. Outside of western states where most rural descriptions tie into section corners, I think it's difficult for a seller to sell without an adequate legal description. That will almost always entail a little engineering/survey work. My property isn't near section corners or perfectly rectangular so an attempt to sell it with a home made description wouldn't cut it for title insurance and many recorder's/assessor' offices would eventually reject it. As such, I think the onus ought to be on the seller in the first instance to come up with a description that is tied into an existing survey. This will frequently, but not always, require some professional help.

 

[Rare breed]

Your getting ripped off at $10k. The cost maximum should be $5k. For complete confidence I would not use previous surveys on boundaries I would do the complete survey

 

[Mennoniteman]

As I read it you are saying it's "it's a piece off a piece" so it needs to be subdivided, which needs a survey for an attorney to be able to draw up the deed description. No getting around that. And you said "seller is not actively trying to sell He approached them so they ain't going to pay for the survey" So if the seller refuses to pay for it but the buyer likes the price and badly wants the land there is no getting around that either. The buyer paying for a subdivision survey isn't all that uncommon. In PA I could get a reputable surveyor to do this for 5K. But this creates a potential trap. The buyer spends to do a survey, then the seller changes his mind and the buyer is out of pocket 5- $10K. To avoid this it's best to have an agreement of sale before starting. However, in ourstate it's not legal to do an agreement of sale on a property that's not subdivided, even though it's done all the time under the radar. If so, have an attorney draw up some other paper stating that the seller is beholden to the buyer for the survey. Either way I'd advise my friend to have an attorney do the papers first to avoid misconceptions.

 

[JFK52]

I bought my 122 acres on an unsurveyed legal description . I did a complete survey with boundary markers as one of the first things after I signed the contract with the seller. I paid for it. I was amazed how far off some of the supposed boundaries were from the actual boundaries. Old rock piles were an alleged line. The real line was over 20 feet away in my favor. It was also good to find and designate section markers. I know exactly where the boundaries of my land are with the 9 neighbors I have adjacent to my piece of land. it cost me $1,200 to have this done in 1994. The precision of GPS survey instruments is unbelievable. I also let all my neighbors know that I had a recorded survey of my land on file at the County Register of Deeds office. I consider the cost of the survey as money extremely well spent. Knowing your property's exact boundaries is helpful in getting along with your neighbors.

 

[Rare breed]

Listen to jf52. He has experienced exactly what I have

 

[Bowhunter]

I'm a professional land surveyor by trade and can tell you that you shouldn't be buying a piece of property unless you have a complete boundary survey done.

In my neck-o-the woods unless your paying cash for a piece of land the banks/financial institution won't let you get away without having one done. And even if you do pay with cash you still need to have a boundary survey done so you fully understand what you are buying. Along with having a boundary survey done, you also should have a abstract/title report done. The abstract proves that you have free and clear title to the piece of property, and the boundary survey shows you the particulars of the parcel, IE size, and location.

I would also shy away from having a partial survey/spot survey done. These are a waste of money IMO, and will not hold up in court if you ever have an issue with an adjacent landowner. Most reputable land surveyors will likely steer you away from a partial survey and will tell you that you need a complete boundary survey. Most people think that this just a way to get more money out of you, but it's not. It's what they are legally supposed to do as a professional.

As far as cost goes; 10k seems like a whole lot of money to do 150 acres, but that could depend on your location. I would charge a client around the 4-5K for a boundary survey in my area depending on the type of 150 acres that it is. Flat and open is much cheaper than steep and wooded. In some areas surveyors will charge a rate of upwards of 10% of the selling price of the parcel. That could be a whole lot of money.

Bottom line; get it surveyed and don't take any shortcuts that could be big headaches down the road.

 

[Sampson]

I agree with Bow hunter. Two years ago I bought 20 acres next to my dad's forty. It was cut off of a 80 acre piece. I purchased a portion a half mile long by 110 yards or so wide. This provided road access to the county road. I had to wait for the bank to release the 20 from part of the mortgage and get a survey done for a abstract and title search done. No realtor involved and I paid cash for the property so no additional mortgage or loans to deal with. The survey was invaluable and there was no way I would have completed the purchase with out it. Once the survey was complete with a legal description I was able to get the abstract work and title done for the purchase. I paid for the survey as the buyer, it's piece of mind knowing everything was done right.


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