Anyone have their land surveyed?

[LeslieR]

We just bought a new house in January. We are supposed to have an acre of land. Our property backs up to a protected area, so I'm not really sure where our land ends and the protected area begins. We are in the process of considering having some tree work done on our property and I think we really ought to find out what is ours and what is not before we have anything done. Anyone have any experience with this? How did you go about finding someone to do the survey? More importantly, how much did it cost? TIA!

[Jennifer]

We had to have a survey last year before we put in our swimming pool - since our lot was small and we were "pushing" the setback requirements. Honestly I looked up land surveyor in the phone book and called and called and called until I found someone who could do it pretty quickly (our neighbors had used a survey company the year before - but they had a 2 month wait - and since realizing we'd need a survey only came up with final plan approval 1 week before the dig was scheduled (final plan approval called for our property to have survey stakes for the inspectors) we needed not to wait so long.

Ours cost about 1500 - a bit more than I'd hoped. But in calling around I got quotes from about 1300 to over 3000 for the same job description. The survey was completed, staked and filed in about 3 weeks.

[LeslieR]

Jennifer, thanks for the reply! I had no idea it was that costly. ouch.

[espresso]

We had one done when we bought the house and it was around $300.... We have 1/2 acre if that matters in price.

[BuffaloBlondie]

We had one done and it only cost $350.00 for a little over an acre of land. We just asked friends who recently built for recommendations.

[camberne]

It certainly should not cost in excess of $500 to have your property lines surveyed and marked. However, if you are having someone stake out where you are going to have a new construction home footprinted on the property, that is more expensive.

[Jennifer]

I am constantly amazed at how much more reasonable surveying is elsewhere - we ONLY had the property lines marked (we did internal measuring of setbacks ourself) - and our home was already built - so this was really basic and I was SO shocked at how expensive it was after hearing on the net about cheaper prices elsewhere (and just in comparison - my lot is .15 acre - so it's not like they were running all over the county trying to measure miles of land ;))

Your location, state/county rules regarding survey's, and the extent of the job will I'm sure affect price! Honestly this was an unhappy budget surprise for us!

[camberne]

For what it's worth, if you are just looking for where your property lines are, you can easily find the pins yourself. Your property was surveyed when you bought it, so you should be able to find a copy in your closing paperwork. If you can find one of the pins, it's fairly easy to find the rest of them! They're buried about 2-3" below grade. They're metal rods (generally rebar) that are hammered down at the corners of your property. We use a metal detector to find them when we can't locate ours (we measured where they are from the driveway and curbs so we can find them when we need to).

Jennifer, you were RIPPED OFF. Even in the Hamptons in NY, I've never paid that kind of money for a survey! I think that people were getting what they could from you because of the time crunch you were in. You were paying for convenience, not a survey!!

[LeslieR]

Camberne, is that true for old property as well as new (our house was built in '73)? I honestly don't believe a survey was done only because I don't recall mention of it in any discussion I had with our realtor. I'll have to look at our closing paperwork! Thanks!

[mindy75]

We didn't have a survey at closing. The lender didn't require it and we didn't want to pay for it. I guess it depends on where you are as to whether a survey is done prior to closing. Our property lines are clearly marked by driveways and treelines. No neighbor disputes and no surveys required. Camberne, I'm curious about the "pins" you mentioned. I need a metal detector! I must know it we have these!