What’s a Survey and are They Required to Buy a Property?

A lot of people that are buying a property ask if they have to get a survey. A survey will give you a picture of the lot itself and the boundaries and then they will also put stakes on the corners of the lot so you know specifically where your property is.

You don’t necessarily have to get a survey but a lot of times title companies will require you to get one in order to receive survey coverage. If 3 years from now your neighbor claims that your driveway is on their property, then if you got a survey, you can go back to your title company and tell them it’s going to cost $3,000 to move the driveway and the title company should have insurance for that.

If you didn’t get an actual survey then you won’t have survey coverage. A lot of people call a surveyor’s real property report a survey but it is technically not. It’s kind of like a survey but you only get a drawing and it won’t hold up as a survey if you have to go to court or if you have to get survey coverage from the title company.

We do encourage people to get surveys. It is always nice to know that if the fence of the house you are buying is in the neighbor’s yard or vice versa. I like to talk about who is in control and who has the power and when I’m representing a buyer I really want to make sure that my client, the buyer, does not get themselves in a situation where someone can force them to do something.

If it leaves them in a situation where they can choose to take action or force a neighbor to do something then that’s okay.

We really want to make sure that you stay in control.

We go more in depth with surveys HERE if you want to know more.

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