In Tulsa you can get a survey of an urban building lot in that range. In Portland that barely covers the filing fee.
That is crazy. I won't do an Elevation Certificate for that.
From the website:
"..A boundary survey is not always required. Different states have different requirements..."
Sadly, it appears as if the dastardly ILC, MIC, Loan Survey...or whatever they call it in other parts of the woods, is probably figgered in to that median price. Just another example of John Q. Buyer being misled about the purchase of real estate...:bored:
You should be able to get a surveyor between $200 to $800? From who? Your GIS professional? outrageous. No one should be upset when a potential client wants a survey for super-low prices....they have web sites and other professionals advising that a survey shouldn't cost more than $800. If I heard everywhere I went that I shouldn't have to pay any more than !-2% to for a realtor to sell my house, I would be outraged if I were quoted 6 or 7%.
In some states they still use Mortgage Inspection Reports. They usually have a note stating 'This is not a survey' or some such. No doubt those are where these prices come from...
bridger48, post: 341871, member: 6251 wrote: Amazing cost to hire surveyor.
bridge
Signed up for the site and tried using it to get a referral for surveying. Not surprised there is not one in my area.
Main description of surveying services sounds like a mortgage inspection not a complete boundary survey. However, the referral listed several types of services
- Boundary survey (American Land Title Association)
- Topographic or site map survey
- Plot survey (subdivision/boundary alteration plots)
- Construction survey
- Elevation certification (e.g. for flood insurance)
I submitted comments and completed a separate survey pointing out the errors and suggesting they contact NSPS for professional assistance in getting the information correct. Just got off the telephone with a nice lady responding to the comments in the survey. She said my comments will be forwarded to be reviewed. Might help if I am not the only one making comments.
I commented on the page, but it says that there are "0" comments; so I don't know if the comments are being posted. Perhaps it takes a while for it to actually "post" onto the page for others to read.
A few years ago, I googled something like "how much does a survey cost?".
I found a discussion board where someone very authoritatively stated that boundary surveys were very easy to do and should never cost more than $100.
Unless topo was involved - this was much more difficult and would raise the total price to around $200!
The guys who cited the Mortgage Loan Inspection (and its cousins) as the source of these prices are likely correct. I recently had a go-round with a lady who said her Realtor told her that a survey of her 1+ acre wooded lot in a really messy area would run around $250. I asked her where the Realtor got that number. She then told me that the Realtor's husband is a local land surveyor, whose name I recognized instantly. I told her he's a reputable and worthy land surveyor and that if she could get him to do her lot for $250 she should do so at once. I sent her a proposal stating cost should not exceed $1500, and never heard back. To some extent it's our own fault not because we do MLI's but because we have failed to educate the Realtors, lawyers, bankers etc. as to what the difference between an MLI and a boundary survey is. Forgot to add that I know that the aforesaid reputable, worthy guy does a lot of MLI's which is surely where his wife was getting her number.
Can the surveyors at large make a website called "cost of a survey" and put a realistic amount on it with info?
I know some private businesses do this but only if you look for it. It seems to me that the national representation should do this? Maybe there is a law against it? It does not have to be accurate, just not ridiculously low. Simpler the better.
Seems like a good idea to me.
If you do this be very careful to avoid looking like price fixing collusion. Real estate agents can agree on rates but surveyors can't.
