How to select a qualified surveyor
If you wanted to know what to look for and how to select the most qualified surveyor, I think you would have gotten a different response.
I get the jist of what your saying. You NEED to be involved. If you approach a surveyor with that type of attitude (needing to involved in order to check the surveyor), you will likely see an increase in the cost of your survey. Plain fact.
People sometimes think if they offer to "help", they should get a cheaper survey. In reality, the survey ends up costing more because of the loss in productivity and the PIA factor.
Where would you like it to start?
(If they ask that question, you might not want to hire them.)
Edit: I was just being a smartass...but maybe a little advice. In my opinion more land surveyors than not are honest and have integrity. Don't ever ask someone that stands to profit in your buying the house. The land surveyor is not like the realtor, in that the realtor only makes money if you buy. The land surveyor is an expert very specifically in boundary and boundary rights. The only exceptions, as some have eluded to, is the guy who wants to low-ball and get in and out as quickly as possible. I like the couple of suggestions from the guys that suggested you get three estimates. If one is extremely lower than the other two, be very wary, the same way you would naturally be if someone wanted 3 times what anyone else would want. A recommendation from someone you trust is always valuable too, but don't rely solely on that....the guy recommending might just have a friend who is a surveyor and doesn't really know the quality of his work.
You have gotten some advice, some animosity so far, but I don't see enough information to offer either.
What is this vacant land worth? Are you going to build a million dollar home or a hunting cabin? If the property is very valuable you will want an ALTA Survey, there is a check list involved defining the important elements of the survey. Anything less would be ill advised.
You can always check the local GIS maps.
[sarcasm]You can trust GIS.[/sarcasm]
DDSM:-S
Mr. Dan, you are one scary researching dude!
Mr. Cow said:
"You have made it clear you do not trust people. My suggestion would then be to hire one surveyor to do what you need. Then, once he is done, hire a second surveyor with no connection to the first to check the work of the first one. It's only money."
We could take this a little further.
Both surveyors should be the cheapest low ballers you can find. When the first surveyor is done, cover up the markers. On second thought, that's not necessary, the second surveyor will pincushion all the corners. Then, hire a third surveyor to tell you which is right. But can you trust the third? Hire a few more. Now a lawyer will counsel you as to which one not to sue for being wrong. How trustworthy is that lawyer? You just can't trust anyone anymore.
How did you find this tract?
OK, I have to ask. How did you find this tract? Was is SWAG? Was it fitting the sketch to a location you know about? I'm looking at this like some kid in a Criss Angel audience with amazement. Bravo!
Careful there. The newcomer may not recognize the [sarcasm]sarcasm font[/sarcasm].
GIS is the cause of much confustion, because it is quite often off by many feet.
The first issue the picture brings up is: Do the lot side lines run perpendicular to the street, or true geodetic north, or the magnetic north of some prior year, or state plane grid north, or something else? It's going to make a noticeable difference, and is one of the issues the surveyor will need to resolve.
How did you find this tract?
The street address is on the sketch. I think a survey would be a reasonable cost if I was going to invest +/-$30k on a piece of property.
How did you find this tract?
> OK, I have to ask. How did you find this tract? Was is SWAG? Was it fitting the sketch to a location you know about? I'm looking at this like some kid in a Criss Angel audience with amazement. Bravo!
I studied the sketch and found only the reference for E 34th St. I typed this into search bar of Google Earth Pro. Since I'm in Little Rock, Dr. Google zoomed me to College Station area Southwest of the Bill and Hillery Clinton National Airport. I noticed E 34th Steet dead ends, and using my GIS:'( skills, made this cartoon. I was hoping the OP would see that, without more information, the edge of his land could be anywhere.
DDSM
How did you find this tract?
Dan, I got a 1.8 acre tract in southeast Broken Arrow. Where did you end up? I though the street address is in parentheses. (28919)
I'll be in Broken Arrow on May 19th but not sure if I'll have time for additional projects.
When you see it...
> .. a 1.8 acre tract in southeast Broken Arrow
[sarcasm]Maybe its time those dam poachin okies get a taste of their own medicine. I can hear the rubber burnin up 35 [/sarcasm]
How did you find this tract?
Nope. Not Broken Arrow. Google Earth at 28919 E. 34th St. in Broken Arrow, OK does not fit the sketch.
Maybe Cleveland Ohio
Or maybe somewhere in Silicon Valley.
How did you find this tract?
Yeah, I know. But if you follow the directions in the realtor listing, it gets you to the right place. Google street addresses don't always work right.
•Directions: 31st Street East to 289th E Ave. Turn right (south) Go to 3rd road (dead ends). Entrance to property on left at end of caul-de-sac.
And, here is the plat:
http://www.wagonerassessor.com/Subdivisions/VERDIGIS%20MOUNTAIN%20ESTAmd.pdf
Maybe Cleveland Ohio
>Cleveland?
The Steve interested in real estate investment? Cleveland's 34th looks to be a main artery running N/S
DDSM:-D
[sarcasm]You can't trust a realtor? Or a lawyer? Or the pavement? What has this world come to? But you can trust a stranger on a chat board, right?[/sarcasm]
Should anyone trust you in your calling ?
There is an old adage about the pot calling the kettle.
Your attitude does not overly encourage assistance.
Derek G. Graham OLS OLIP
How did you find this tract?
> OK, I have to ask. How did you find this tract? Was is SWAG? Was it fitting the sketch to a location you know about? I'm looking at this like some kid in a Criss Angel audience with amazement. Bravo!
Not that difficult my friend. How many E 34th streets are there in Arkansas? Much more interesting is to Google Earth it.
This may not be some worthless parcel out in the swamps. It's +- two acres at a freeway with some major "freeway ramp" style developments nearby. Although development seems to have stalled in the mid 90's.:-S
Go ahead, drop to streetview and check out the 34th street situation. "Walk" around and check out power poles, utility boxes, 35th street, drainage, that pioneer road to the east, the filthy habits of the neighbor to the west.
Flip back to the earliest imagery (1994) and watch that mysterious clearing on the north appear sometime after 1996 and before 2001, then a building appears there in 2006 and disappears by 2009. Watch the western neighbor's house built sometime before 2001 in use, then abandoned and turned into a junkyard and falling apart in 2014.
Lots of fun, eh? Two points here:
1. "GIS" i.e. Google Earth with private linked layers is incredibly useful; I hit it first when researching parcels, use it for exhibits, flythroughs, etc. The "official" GIS at work, meh, pretty much a piece of crap run by a bunch of computer geeks who are trying to reinvent the wheel and keep themselves employed; only our records up to date (-6 years or decades), lousy IU, down and crashing all the time. OTOH, Google is pretty good.
2. This guy has to be playing dumb. I smell many complications concerning this parcel which I'll not go into here, including the boundaries.
Only comments I'll make is if this guy is really purchasing for more than a place to park his redneck trailer, he needs a land development consultant (some of whom are surveyors) who will orchestrate his plans, even if it's only to build a nice house. If it's a buy-and-hold deal, maybe not even a surveyor; Title Insurance will cover the train wreck as his adjoiners continue to encroach. I mean what's a little around the edges?
THIS IS NOT ARKANSAS. IT'S OKLAHOMA
N/M
