Question about land survey

[dodge man]

I might add that in some areas it is common to blaze trees. This is a way to mark the boundary line. In the old days, they actually took and axe and marked the tree with a small cut. Now a days, they usually use paint instead.

 

[dave1949]

I might add that in some areas it is common to blaze trees. This is a way to mark the boundary line. In the old days, they actually took and axe and marked the tree with a small cut. Now a days, they usually use paint instead.

I asked the surveyor to blaze our boundary. They cut blazes with an axe and painted them yellow. After five years, I ordered some Nelson Aerospot yellow spray paint online and refreshed the paint on the blazes. I like to be able to find my boundary lines easily. It's a great reason to get out in the woods on a nice Fall day after the leaves are down and it is easier to see through the woods. I also put some t-stud fence posts in next to the corner pins and painted them yellow. It just makes good sense to maintain your boundaries IMO.
Dave.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

I don't know what this means.

I was under the impression that surveyors nowadays had access to, and used, very accurate (and very expensive) GPS technology. My thinking was that some day in the future, deeds would use latitudes/longitudes rather than metes and bounds, etc.

Steve

UTM is a different form of the same information as latitude/longitude, kind of like converting feet to meters.

The following web site does a much better job of explaining the different data sets:

Coordinate Systems Overview

 

[milkman636]

Getting a survey when buying acreage is always a good idea. I was involved in a deal that fell through. The seller represented the piece as larger than it was. It was a slightly irregular shape and the owner had all the corners right, but the old measurements were bad. Walking the boudaries with my handheld GPS and the seller is what prompted me to push for a survey before we closed. Without the survey, we would have been paying about 15% more than the going rate for the area. The poor seller had a bad day, he ended up paying for a survey to find out that his land was worth less than he thought. It turned out to be a deal breaker.

 

[two_bit_score]

Getting a survey when buying acreage is always a good idea. I was involved in a deal that fell through. The seller represented the piece as larger than it was. It was a slightly irregular shape and the owner had all the corners right, but the old measurements were bad. Walking the boudaries with my handheld GPS and the seller is what prompted me to push for a survey before we closed. Without the survey, we would have been paying about 15% more than the going rate for the area. The poor seller had a bad day, he ended up paying for a survey to find out that his land was worth less than he thought. It turned out to be a deal breaker.

In past real estate deals when representing the seller I always discussed this with them and if they had a very old survey (many, many did) we would consider the possibility of a new survey turning up more or less acreage than they thought. Most of them would choose to represent their property as '' 83 ac. more or less for the price of $250,000" instead of " 83 ac. at $3,012 per acre". Making it clear what the seller is representing up front and what they expect helps a lot. Of course, everything is negotitable.

 

[Skyco]

I might add that in some areas it is common to blaze trees. This is a way to mark the boundary line. In the old days, they actually took and axe and marked the tree with a small cut. Now a days, they usually use paint instead.

My property is like that, axe cuts then paint, but that is on the external boundary. The original blazes were there long before I bought the land.
My complaint was a recent surveyor for someone else painting trees on an internal line of mine that had nothing to do with anyone else. Thank goodness he didn't do the axe cut on that line he marked for no reason or we'd have had a very big problem.

 

[dmccarty]

I might add that in some areas it is common to blaze trees. This is a way to mark the boundary line. In the old days, they actually took and axe and marked the tree with a small cut. Now a days, they usually use paint instead.

This is still done in my area. Two slashes on a boundry line tree. Three slashes on a tree near a corner. Three trees should be marked around the corner pipe to help located said marker. If there are three trees.

Later,
Dan

 

[Snapper Head]

If I may be so bold - what Dodge Man is saying is that a survey is a rendered opinion. This is true, both literally, and in any court of law. We like to think that because GPS and other gear can provide pinpoint accuracy, which it can, that surveys are super accurate and there should be no issue.

The equipment, provided the surveyor chooses the better stuff and takes the time (this equates to a more expensive survey) can measure a point as tiny as a gnats butt, to a repeatable accuracy within an area the size of a beer can. But that doesn't necessarily equate to an accurate survey. Why not?

The answer lies in history - there is no virgin land. By that I mean that a surveyor is working from historical documents, as did every surveyor before him, except for the schlub who shot the first traverse in that area. And that was likely several hundred years ago. Those documents, especially the earlier ones, are the product of both lesser equipment, local politics, and the abilities of the surveyor doing the work.

A professional survey is rendered opinon that is the result of following established rigorous practice and method, and should always be understood as being a 'best fit'.

You don't really think that jet airplane you are flying in REALLY knows EXACTLY where he is all of the time? If he uses only GPS, he doesn't.


Big Al

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The slashes and paint on the tree indicates the side of the tree the line is on. As you go thru the woods, some trees will be marked on the left, some on the right. the line goes somewhere between. A tree on the line should be marked front / back instead of on the side.
I used to own some really hilly steep property that had the trees marked this way. I would welcome someone repainting them, it was a job. However, I wouldn't want someone marking internal trees as was mentioned.
Every property I have bought the acres was listed as +/-, which put it on the buyer to determine if the property was in fact different than as listed. The seller is listing their known size approximation, and the price is for whatever is there.

 

[dodge man]

What snapper head says is pretty much spot on. Our equipment is much better today, but were always working with old survey data, and that is where different surveyors have different opinions. In theory, everything in the U.S, has been surveyed at least once, its just a matter of how long ago. My area of Illinois was originally surveyed around 1816, and I believe some of the ground around here has not been surveyed since. The exception to this rule would be Alaska, there is still ground there that has never been split up in sections.