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Article on a boundary dispute in Houston, Texas. The owner says she will never buy another property without hiring a skilled Land Surveyor.
Truer words were never spoken.
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ARE YOU BUYING A PIG IN A POLK?
It seems to me that home buyers are being asked to make the most expensive purchase of their lives without the benefit of all the information regarding their real estate that they are entitled to and certainly should have. In the past ten years it appears that there has been a concerted effort by the very people who hold themselves out as experts in the field of buying and selling real estate to convince home buyers that they no longer need the one document that will show them graphically exactly what they are borrowing vast sums of money to acquire. I am referring here to the land title survey the one document that any qualified real estate investor would insist on reviewing before they commit to purchase any real estate.
To better understand the dynamics of these situation home buyers need to ask several questions of the individuals and companies that are representing them and who are holding themselves out as financial and legal experts in the field of real estate purchases.
1. As a home buyer who has my interest as their primary commitment in negotiating a contract and at the settlement table who represents me?
2. Why would a Realtor or settlement agent not want me to have a land title surveIf
3. If I acquire the recommended enhanced title insurance how would I be protected if an issue arises that would negatively affect the value my home that a land title survey would have disclosed?
4. How much does a land title survey cost?
5. Is there another type of land title survey that I could understand without being a professional land surveyor?
I can give some of the answers as I understand them but you need to get your own professional advice.
1. Unless you have your own consul at contract negiations and the stettlement table you the homebuyer are on your own.. Oh sure if asked the settlement attorney will probably say that they represent the "contract" which means the bank and the insurance company. As for the Realtor they are there to make sure that they leave settlement with their commission check. For all these folks it is a time/money thing.
2. If the deal doesn’t close because there is an issue with any document presented to the buyers and or sellers than that’s a big problem. So it would follow the fewer documents to be reviewed the quicker that everyone can go on the next deal. Good by surveys.
3. Good luck on this one. First you have to be able to prove that the problem was a "preexisting condition" meaning prior to your settlement. Meaning you didn't create it after setttlement. Oh buy the way that inhanced title insurance wiil cost about $400 for every $100,000 of value that's over $2,000 for the aveage home sale in our market.
4. Most residential house location surveys on less than 1 acre of land cost about $275 to $375.
5. AH YES when I was looking at a home to buy the Realtor gave me a copy of a document that showed the land title survey information superimposed on a digital image of the site (Google Earth). This advanced survey had been prepared by a local company who had developed and patented the process. This company has used this process to prepared commercial land title surveys for major corporations acquiring commercial property from Baltimore Md. to 1 sq. mile of real estate in a commercial proeprty sale in Palms Springs Calf.