It appears there is going to be an interesting conversation with a client.?ÿ In June 2015 we did a simple survey to split a five-acre tract off one corner of a quarter section per the buyer's guidance.?ÿ I knew the sellers quite well so assumed everything was fine.?ÿ In fact, we did a survey a few months back for the seller, slicing off a different corner of the quarter section to be deeded to a grandson.?ÿ A few weeks ago the buyer from 2015 called to say he needed another survey as he was getting to buy an additional three acres in an "L" shape around his current tract.?ÿ Piece of cake.?ÿ No problemo.
Went online to the site providing the County Appraiser's data for the repeat client's tract.?ÿ I read the wording of the description they had and thought, "What a doofus, that's not the right description."?ÿ The description said it was the west half of the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of the section, so roughly 330 x 660 (except this is a Section 31).?ÿ Nope.?ÿ My survey was for a tract roughly 300 x 725 per what the client had directed us to do in June 2015.?ÿ He even set steel posts next to the bars we set and placed lengths of white plastic pipe over them to keep track of exactly what he possessed.
Went to the courthouse yesterday to find the deed that should have been filed about July 2015 and discovered the deed was recorded in FEBRUARY 2015 as the aliquot part described above.?ÿ I have to blame myself to some extent as I did not search through the records in 2015 except to confirm that the sellers had acquired title to the full quarter section in the 1970's.?ÿ I knew they had deeded off small tracts to each of their two children but those were nowhere close to the tract being surveyed in 2015.?ÿ Somehow, I did not notice the deed to my survey client.?ÿ But, then, you have to ask, why did the client in 2015 not tell me that he already owned a tract and simply needed to find where the boundaries were??ÿ I remember him showing me a flag along the west side of the property and him telling me that would be where the north line should be and make it however wide it took to get exactly five acres.?ÿ Fortunately, the house he built is in a safe spot for either description.
I think I'm going to rename Jonathan to be Lucy.
Yeh, Lucy Cow, you have some splainin to do.
Thankfully your five year old description is not on the record to muddy the waters.
Paul in PA
I recently received a request from a client. I had been doing some investigation of their property and discovered a chain of title that was a problem. Seems the original owner of the property sold the same land twice creating an "overlap" with the second sale. The second grantee doesn't have rights to the overlap and on the ground it's never been much of an issue because the second grantee is an absentee landowner and the area in question is now a county road and some deep brush no one seems much interested in. But, this property is an adjoiner to my client's and I didn't dig much farther into it.?ÿ
Fast forward, now my client is interested in buying the second grant back into the original ranch. They would like a deed that fixes the problem I discovered.?ÿ
So I start writing one then it dawns on me that the parcel which still had the original description late last year had to go through probate.?ÿ
I had better check, and sure enough a new deed had been recorded excepting out grant #1 from grant #2. Problem solved. You can get into trouble assuming you have all the records.
I remember him showing me a flag along the west side of the property and him telling me that would be where the north line should be and make it however wide it took to get exactly five acres.
Huh??ÿ So he thought he bought a certain area and could configure the shape of it however he wanted after the fact?
Apparently.?ÿ That is what is going to make our conversation awkward.
What services did he contract you to do?
"A few weeks ago the buyer from 2015 called to say he needed another survey as he was getting to buy an additional three acres in an "L" shape around his current tract. "
This new tract will need to follow the boundaries as described in his deed rather than the boundaries we laid out six years ago.?ÿ That is the only real difference.?ÿ I have all dimensions of the section in my computer files already because of the fairly recent job we did for the seller which required us to locate and establish the center corner.?ÿ I can "math whip" where his deed says his boundaries are, then take a shot on a steel post that is to conform to the east side of what he is going to gain, then calc exactly how to end up with 3.000 new acres.
With the winds blowing from the south I am getting the faint odor of roses.
Clean living has it's rewards.
