Picked up a survey last week that looked like a 'slam-dunk'. Metes and bounds description in a rural area..it looked pretty cut and dried.
As I reviewed the adjoiner's deeds it became evident that out of six or seven parcels in a 1/4 section none of the deeds reflected a survey. All the courses were cardinal directions (North, South, East, West) and all the distances were statute (660', 990',1320', etc.). My initial boundary revealed that the quarter was 2632' e-w and 2637' n-s roughly. This means somebody is gonna lose some footage somewhere.
The title company was not very helpful. The subject property had never been abstracted and they were still in the process of putting it all together. I called the title examiner and explained that my boundary determination was going to probably hinge on a lot of junior/ senior rights as the parcels were chonologically created. This could be time consuming and might ruffle some feathers with somebody. There are lots of ancient fences and even older property owners.
I spoke with the seller's son and agreed to meet him at the property. I explained the difficulties that I had evidence of, and I really couldn't promise to deliver a survey in time for a May 31st. closing.
He explained that his father, the seller, was very ill. (I've seen the hospice nurse out there twice at the house). He reiterated that his father wanted to close the deal before he passed and May 31st might be pushing it for his father. I told him I would do my best. I also told him, in a dry sarcastic tone, that the best case scenario would be that the property was the first parcel cut out of the quarter and if I could "find 4 pins." I really had my doubts.
The crew had already scoured the corners for pins and I was pretty convinced that there weren't any out there. But I decided to give it the old 'college try'. One corner at a time I searched around the cleared brush and pot holes the crew had dug yesterday. One by one I found pins with rotted flagging about a half a foot deep. By the time we got to the last corner no one was talking...we just staked out the 'calc' corner and started swinging the Shonstadt. Glory be.
Got back to the office this evening and had an email from the title examiner. Apparently this tract was the first tract sold out of the quarter. And the seller (in 1964) was the old man that it was patented to in 1894. Junior/ senior rights "issue" solved.
Somethin' tells me that the old gent will make it to the May 31st. closing. They've already set it up to have the closing at his residence.
I'm sure I don't know all the circumstances. But tax-wise, wouldn't it be better for the heirs to get the property and then sell it? I'd expect the old man's estate to have to pay a bunch of capital gains, whereas the heirs would get a stepped up basis and avoid most of that tax.
Good point..but I don't know the specifics of the transaction. The property is currently held by JTWD (as opposed to a trust or something). Joint tenancy means the old gent's wife will absorb his assets upon his demise, unless his wishes are different. She's very much still with us.
I'm sure there is a tax consideration there somewhere, but I'm not gonna ask.
A higher powered metal detector?
> The crew had already scoured the corners for pins and I was pretty convinced that there weren't any out there. But I decided to give it the old 'college try'. One corner at a time I searched around the cleared brush and pot holes the crew had dug yesterday. One by one I found pins with rotted flagging about a half a foot deep.
So, this is a case of divine intervention that your field party hadn't been able to use a metal detector very well? To me, the fact that they were evidently searching in about the right spot and unable to find ferrous markers only about 6 inches down is the most bothersome part of this one.
A higher powered metal detector?
:good:
Kind of like the old story that there is no better water pump than a desperate man with a bucket...
A higher powered metal detector?
I have a crew like that. One can find things sometimes, the other cannot find much.
Kinda like the Texas farmer visiting the Maine farmer.
The Texan proudly states that it takes three days for him to drive around his farm.
The Maine farmer replies, "Yup, I had a truck like that once."
A higher powered metal detector?
I'm not going to defend the guys, I rode their butt pretty hard. Particularly one pin that was about .25' above ground. I found it without the pin finder.
One contributing factor was that all the corners fell within a foot or so of 6" welded pipe corner posts...but that's still not an excuse.
I've gotta go with Kent on this one.....trhat's really scary.
Another reason to go out to the site yourself at least once to check things out.
I've got to be honest...that crew needs more than "hard riding".
I have worked with a guy that never could find any irons until he found something to stake to... After that he cut brush for 3 strait months, he finally ask to be on a different job. He finally started finding corners.
He is now a safety coordinator at another company... Now the joke is that the job was always to dangerous for him.
