Property Border Lines

Infrequent poster here, and would appreciate any and all suggestions!

I purchased a home 1.5 years ago. At that time, the previous owner assured me that there were stakes in the ground that would show me my property lines. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate them.

My property is approximately 1/2 an acre. This wouldn't be an issue, except that there are bushes and trees separating my home from the neighbors on either side of my house, and both fail to trim the bushes or trees or clean-out the dead leaves, etc. underneath. I usually do it - and did all last summer - because it affects the appearance of my property. Last weekend, I took it upon myself to trim some of the bushes on both sides of the property, only to have one of the neighbors creep around the bushes to take a peek when he thought I wasn't around. This, of course, made me wonder if I'm treading on someone else's property and doing something I shouldn't be doing.

My documentation from settlement, including my land title insurance property description, does not help. Short of hiring a surveyor and paying to have someone show me where my property begins/ends, does anyone have any other suggestions on how to determine the property lines?

Reply to
KAB
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Around here, a survey is required before closing, and that's what I've refered to. Absent that? Talk with you neighbor and make an agreement if you don't want to get the real deal. But I'd pay for the survey if I were in your shoes: something that is very fact based and authoritative can be very comforting.

John

Reply to
raven

Dont be so cheap a survey can save you thousands, someone is trying Adverse Possesion on me. You need your lines staked out and plainly marked , and cared for, or you can loose it. Buying a property without a survey is dumb.

Reply to
m Ransley

Can you get a copy of the most recent survey from your town? Even if YOU didn't have one done, SOMEBODY probably did at some point in the past.

Reply to
Doug Kanter

In many cases, the stakes are pipes. Find someone with a metal detector and they may be able to help. You should have a plot plan to give you some idea of a location. Ed

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Hi, That's right. They usually is iron rod driven into ground upto 2 feet deep.(after landscaping, etc.) on 4 corners. Go to spproximate area and scan with metal detector. Or no site sketch from original surveyor? I always keep a copy of blue print/site layout from surveyor for my house and when I did something to the yard or house, I always draw it onto the original document for next owner. Tony

Reply to
Tony Hwang

You could go to the town and ask for a property map, but that won't really be all that accurate. Ours give measurements, but you could be mismeasuring. We had a tree that was dying and before we cut it, we wanted to be sure it was ours. The town said surveying would be most accurate. Turns out our property map made it very clear that the tree was ours so we didn't end up surveying.

JennP.

Reply to
newfy.1

As others have said, there are probably iron pipes driven into the ground at the corners. However, an ordinary metal detector might not locate them. A friend and I spent hours trying to locate mine (and I was pretty sure where they were) without any luck. I finally hired a surveyor to do a survey and he was able to find all four stakes, plus several buried fence posts in no time at all. His locator, he says, is designed only to find iron and cost him approx. $800. My cost was $400 and I was very pleased with the survey map he provided me with. He was hired by two of my neighbors, so the survey map shows all three properties plus part of the ones on the other side who didn't participate in the survey. Of course he didn't just locate the iron pipes. He went downtown (small town) and found the town stake from which all of the properties were measured and worked from there to make sure my stakes were in the right place. My survey map shows all of my elevations, too, which is going to be of help when I apply to the Army Corp of Engineers for a permit to install a seawall or rip/rap to protect my river frontage.

Tom G.

Reply to
Tom

The pins have probably been driven below grade so they won't interfere with the landscaping. Rent a metal detector, and you should be able to dig them up in short order.

Reply to
Larry Caldwell

IF you have a sidewalk or a curb that was put in at the same time the house was built there may be a mark to indicate the property line (usually just a shallow groove about 4 inches long). My Dad's house was marked this way and I had 2 houses also marked this way. USually it's just an aid to help find the metal rods and is only accurate to a couple inches but it will give a rough idea of property line location

Reply to
JMagerl

if you bought this property then a survey was made when it was in the process of being sold... if you have a loan on the place then the loan company might have a copy of it, or can tell you the company that did the survey(the survey company has a copy on file and can make a copy for you....(low cost of a copy machine copy).. when the property was sold it was transferred via an attorney.. he/she problaby has a copy of the survey, same thing get a copy from him/her....

Reply to
dbird

Stakes usually disappear long before closing. You'll normally have markers, or at least distances from reference points you can go by.

Look at your survey. Take a good estimate based on it. Then discuss your issues with your neighbors and have a barbecue.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff Cochran

Reply to
Don Young

KAB:

K > Infrequent poster here, and would appreciate any and all suggestions!

Welcome!

K > I purchased a home 1.5 years ago. At that time, the previous owner K > assured me that there were stakes in the ground that would show me my K > property lines. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate them.

What material are the stakes make out of? If metal a metal detector should work. (The company who put our fence up used that trick!)

- ¯ barry.martinþATþthesafebbs.zeppole.com ®

  • The zipper was patented on April 29, 1913.
Reply to
barry martin

Some towns/cities are putting this information online, I know in my town I can print out a property map with the dimensions...along with an aerial picture that I used to help me locate the points. I can only find one of the markers (I live on a corner, so in theory 3 of the the markers are "hidden" by either the road or the new sidewalks).

If you can't find the stakes maybe getting someone to survey the land isn't such a bad idea. We're about to do that now due to a problem. There is a strip of bamboo and mixed trees behind us, then a little "ditch" then a home. I let the bamboo grow up some so I wouldn't have to see their house; I mow on one side of it and weedeat on the otherside. The neighbors had a tree fall last year which prevented me from getting in there until they removed it. I went walking back there the other day and they had planted flowers and the like on my side of the ditch. I asked them about it...the woman said "my grandmother used to plant flowers there all of the time, it's more or less or property". Uhmm...bullshit. Now they want to take us to court over it. :P

Reply to
rickm

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