Underneath it all is the LAND. Right? So, if that’s true then why do people buying real estate usually have no idea where their land begins and ends? They haven’t a clue where the boundaries of the property are, and they’re spending hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars for it. To me, that would be first and foremost; I can worry about the pink bathroom tile later.
If you’re getting a mortgage, usually the Mortgagee will require a Mortgage Plot Plan. This is a map that shows the use of the land, where the actual or proposed structures are located. It can also be used for a septic design. It’s not necessarily a plat of the land or a survey articulating all the metes and bounds. If there already is, or has been, a mortgage on the property then that Plot Plan should already exist, but remember it’s not a survey. In many cases where a septic is installed, there isn’t even a septic plan on file in some of the towns. Only recently has record keeping become more conscientious among towns and engineers. I had an experience where three engineers did surveys over time on a piece of land and each one came up with different information.
A colleague called me while I was writing this to tell me about a 10,000sf lot in Vineyard Haven that she is marketing for an owner. The lot has just been surveyed and a plat has been created. During my conversation with her, I looked up the lot in the Assessor’s Book and remarked, “It’s a trapezoid shaped lot with ~110’ at the rear and ~140’ of frontage. She said, “No, it’s square with about ~130’ at the rear.” The Assessor’s maps are notoriously inaccurate so we all should know never to rely on that information as fact. I read an article the other day that addresses the point that quite often No Survey Leads To Big Problems.
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