Adding to a home or building a second structure on your property will require permits. There might be restrictions for where you can place a fence or how far a barn or shed must be away from the property line. Municipalities will often have restrictions about how close you can build to a lot line. The property survey not only matters for the selling of the property, but it also matters for development too. If the land got divided long ago, sometimes it is necessary to trace back through multiple surveys to get to the original lines of the property. The property survey is an official document that defines the piece of property. If these are not part of your mortgage paperwork, the local assessor should have the documents. Often when a property survey was originally drawn, assigned plot or parcel numbers get assigned on the original property map. This is often done using landmarks, sometimes like bodies of water or large trees. However far back, when the land was developed for building a surveyor measured out plots of land and drew them on paper. Most neighborhoods were once fields or farmland. When open land gets developed, property lines get drawn. If you are buying property hoping to build, or add onto a house, you need to know the location of the property lines for building purposes. You want to be certain to get what you pay for. Land value gets established based on the chunk of property. If you are investing in real estate, you need a property survey to make sure you are getting what you think you are getting. If builders don’t use surveyors and “guess” at the property lines, big mistakes can happen. How could this happen? It is more common than you might imagine. In order to sell the house, the homeowner had to buy the community property from the neighborhood association. The house was built on community property in the neighborhood. One builder didn’t use the correct property lines. Why Do You Need a Property Survey?īelieve it or not, homes have actually been built so they overlap property lines. You want to be certain the improvements you are making are actually on your own property. Other reasons you might need a property survey include putting on an addition, building a fence, a shed or a pool. If you are purchasing a home, the mortgage company often requires a property survey to be certain of the value of the land. It tells you, as the landowner, what you own and what belongs to the neighbors around you. What Is a Property Survey?Ī property survey helps confirm the lines that divide two pieces of property.
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Learn about property surveys, surveyors and how to find the property lines for your property. A property line survey will tell you where your property ends and the neighbor’s property begins. The only way to protect your rights and property is to know where the lines are that separate the two pieces of property. Worse yet, what happens when you think that shed or pool is actually built on your property? This is when you need to know for certain where the property lines for your lot fall. What happens when your neighbor decides to build a big, ugly shed in the backyard? Or builds a pool filled with loud screaming kids all summer? Mow the lawn, keep the bushes manicured and the house in good shape. As a property owner, you know you have a few responsibilities.