As a local Surveyor friend of mine said "I can't even pull out of the driveway for less than $1000!"
I clicked on it and now Bob has more money.?ÿ?ÿ
@hi-staker Agreed. Realtor's get 3% of sale because use civilians don't have access to MLS. Lenders charge "loan origination fees" to do paperwork so they can collect interest on you for 30 years. Surveyors doing a real boundary survey could actually provide some value.
I had a friend realtor reach out to me just last week looking for a favor. He had an MLI that the surveyor had noted "Description is comprised of six seperate parcel descriptions, the location of the boundary is difficult to locate with certainty. A boundary survey is recommended."?ÿ ?ÿGood for that surveyor, thats how MLI's should be done.?ÿ
Realtor friend to me: "I'm in a jam, client is suppose to close in 2 weeks and title won't insure without an updated description. I reached out to see if another surveyor would write a description and they said it'd require a boundary. What do you think? Could you do a description or some sort of quicker survey that would satisfy?"
My reply without missing a beat: "My recommendation is a boundary survey as well." (why would I disagree with 2 other surveyors. "If I work on the side some I could have it done in 8 weeks for $4k." (at least the MLI gave me warning that its a little bit of a mess).
He's going the route of searching out another title company that issued insurance in years past on the property and crossing his fingers.?ÿ
My issues with this: for one, the MLI is the most approximate looking outline I have ever seen. I feel it's almost a disservice to even attempt to draw a parcel outline with the available info.
Secondly, the title company didn't have a problem with the fact that the boundary is uncertain, they just wanted to a description that sounded more like a single parcel.?ÿ There's an old road in the parcel too, but that's more than 40 years old since its been mentioned, so title certainly won't be noticing that.
Sadly this sounds about right for my area.?ÿ We lost multiple residential lot surveys last that were in our back yard to a company coming from an hour away to do them for $450.?ÿ Lost a few more to a local competitor for... you guessed it $450.
That outfit is still in business??ÿ You get what you pay for.
We have pins and data in 95% of the city and surrounding subdivisions all on a coordinated system. It's rare that I can't calculate search areas for corners that will also end up being the final position. But even so if I don't quote an estimate that's quite low I won't come close to staking the lot. Basically I treat them as time fillers at this point. If we are slow or waiting on some large project instead of having the crew doing busy work I can send them out on a loss leader lot survey. Don't make much on them if anything, but they keep us out in the public and it's a small fraction of my overall business.?ÿ
We lost multiple residential lot surveys
A friend and mentor here (Uncle P) says he never lost a dollar on a job he did not get.
I had a guy come in that I work with at times. His mother lived in a remote town (different state) created by a plat-sans distances and bearings.......
Oh, the lots also border a river that is continually flooding the lots.......
Oh, and there were a couple of surveys that couldn't find anything, so says the mom.......
Oh, and the neighbor's lot borders federal lands in an early era survey with no resurveys.
I kinda got a headache looking at that job.?ÿ
