Survey Says… (Do You Need One Or Not?)

I have a brother who, for about 15 years, worked for a surveying company in New Jersey, where I grew up.  They kept busy, because with each property transfer in that state, just about every lender requires the parcel to be re-surveyed.

It’s not the same here in Virginia, or at least not in this part of the state.  A new survey is something left to the discretion of the buyer, and if desired, also the buyer’s expense to bear.  So the question I sometimes get asked is, “Do I need one?”

Its a question worth considering.  Generally speaking, for most properties, I tell buyers that if they plan to install a fence (either a privacy fence or an underground dog fence), plant trees or bushes, get a storage building… then yes, prior to doing those things, I would certainly have a surveyor mark my property corners – and any boundary lines in question.

Two scenarios that might help underscore this point.

1. Years ago I had buyer clients who bought a home with a 6’ wooden privacy fence around the entire perimeter of the back yard.  The fence wasn’t installed with the utmost care, so it soon needed to be replaced.  My clients – and close friends – took the fence down, including all the posts, and then reinstalled each one.  This time, wanting to do it right, they put each post in a foot of concrete to make it more secure, and then reattached the fence.  Not long after, one of their adjacent neighbors had his property surveyed, and lo and behold… their fence was 4’ over their property line and into the back yard neighbor’s yard.  And they had put it back exactly where it had been.  Lesson: don’t rely on existing features to determine the actual property lines.

1. I once had an older home for sale, and we came to understand that the driveway of this house was well over the property line onto the next door neighbor’s property.  The story went something like this: the house next door was built by a man who’s daughter now owned it.  Her daddy and the original owner of my listing had just built their homes and their driveways without really checking the line, and they’d always just gotten along.  Problem was, the access to the neighbor’s basement was from the driveway on my listing.  So there was some ‘discussion’ about access between both parties.  And the houses were both built right up on top of the driveway in question, so moving it wasn’t an option. Lesson: make sure there aren’t any easements, particularly in older neighborhoods with close-together homes.

Depending on several factors (the size of the parcel, how difficult it is to find the pins, etc) a survey can run anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.  It is comforting to know exactly where your property begins and ends.  For some people, finding out prior to the sale is key.  For the rest of us, it’s just best to get it flagged before putting that fence back up….

Filed under: My Blog by danvollmer