Never Buy Land Without a Survey

Never purchase a piece of land without being sure where its surveyed boundaries are located. Most land ownership problems have arisen from boundary disputes. The three most common areas of litigation for rural property owners involve water rights, easements, and boundary lines.

Laws typically require only that a deed contain a legal description of the land that defines the parcel in such a way that it cannot be confused with any other piece of land. However, this description does not tell you where the the boundaries are located on the ground. The only way to know, is by a survey.

Surveys are expensive, and therefore many rural parcels are sold without them, even though they are critical to the Buyer. Our Nevada property has been staked and surveyed prior to sale for the safety, and security of the buyer. Plus, by spending the extra money, I’m insuring myself against potential litigation arising from boundary disputes.

Click here to learn more about the Principal Meridians of the U.S. Rectangular Survey System.

I ran across this site awhile back and found that John T. Reed was full of straight talk and no nonsense.

I even subscribed to his monthly newsletter a couple years ago, but didn’t find it that useful. Anyways, check out what he has to say on Real Estate Gurus. Here’s the link– http://johntreed.com/Reedgururating.html.

About two years ago I got a call from the district attorney of Pershing County in Rural NE Nevada.

He said a woman claimed I sold her 40 acres of raw land using a title company. Then she never heard from me again and of course never received a deed. Well, I didn’t sell her the property. A con man in Florida copied verbatim my ad on my website, and put it up on Ebay.

He used a fake title company (based in Russia) and took this poor lady’s money and was never heard from again. The problem was there was no one whom had jurisdiction to go after and prosecute this con man. I think it now falls under the jurisdiction of the FBI (like this woman’s case would be a high priority).

Anyways, now I’m more careful and I never give out the APN (Assessors Parcel Number) publicly of the property I’m selling. This insures that if someone wants to investigate they have to talk to me and then they can call the county with all the correct pertinent information to confirm I actually own the property I’m selling. Fortunately, I have not had a similar incident since, but the lesson is to make sure you know whom you are dealing with before buying property or anything for that matter online.