While taking some time off, and browsing You Tube videos by real estate sales people, part of their advice always mentions that the National average for a survey is $200 or $300 and it is really hard to beleive. Aren't these the same people that ask for six percent of home sales as their commision?
What is even worse is they sometimes suggest using an "app" to find boundaries. This goes way beyond their field of "expertise", and can be considered fraudulent unlicensed practice of land surveying. I rarely see any comments on these type of videos that criticise their efforts to avoid hiring a land surveyor.
The conclusion is that anyone can be a surveyor. All it takes is a "smart" phone, or if you are willing to spend $200 a surveyor will complete the work.
Oh that like to inflate the purchase and selling prices as well. I am in the process now of buying raw land to build a retirement home on. I said this is what I would like to offer. He said that might insult the seller. I said I don’t care I can walk away. They are running prices up for sure. But some will spend that. Not me. lol. I think $200 -$300 is some numbers from the 80’s and 90’s that’s stuck all over the internet. It’s a shame for sure. One can hardly crank the truck for that.
The $200-$300 number is, almost certainly, for a mortgage certificate (or whatever they call them in your area). Which all surveyors know is not a survey. But for homeowners and real estate agents they are a product of a surveyor, and are, therefore, surveys.
I found a bunch of them on You Tube. My New year's resolution is to troll them for being frauds.
The $200 'survey' is indeed a psychological fact. How they were ever approved as a survey work product is beyond my comprehension. Perhaps pressure from title insurance companies.
The Board does rules them to be Mortgage Inspections, but clients, closing attorneys, and unscrupulous real estate sales people will always call them surveys. I do not do them.
Use them to educate the customer base. If you can get past the Realtors. I have some friends and companions that are realtors. Almost everyone of them recommends an actual survey before purchasing so they actually give the surveyors contact information to their clients. They say the biggest hurdle is finding a surveyor that can do them in the short amount of time before closing on these homes in subdivisions not enough license folks. They usually let the client know it will be from 1500 to 3k depending on evidence and what issues are discovered. I honestly think it’s a little niche market waiting to bust if one could build the right relationships. I have bought a few houses in my time and I never revealed I had been in the survey market. If I ask a realtor about a survey and the first thing out of there mouth is no need waste of money. I smile and show them the door. They have proven that my interest is not important . They are supposed to be taught thes
"If I ask a realtor about a survey and the first thing out of there mouth is no need waste of money."
There's a regional aspect to this. In CA, for example, it's unusual for residential property sales to involve a survey unless there's a known or suspected boundary problem. It's rare enough that I've probably only been asked to survey a residential property as part of a sale maybe half a dozen times in 30 years.
Rural parcels are a different matter, but I'd say that the majority of those are sold without benefit of a survey.
If you are surveying a parcel prior to a sale who pays? Does the buyer make it a condition of their Purchase and Sale agreement.
Not exactly the same thing, but I was talking to a long time surveyor acquaintance who lives in rural western Maryland. He commutes to Baltimore for a well paid infrastructure job. I asked him what it was like where he lived, he said there are people doing construction surveying for $25/hr. Not as employees, but as contract work. The large rural properties in the area sell for pretty low per acre, so paying many thousands for a proper survey is a tough sell.
Ironically, it seems most billionaires make their fortune in real estate yet oddly this major part of real estate is somehow supposed to be $300? Makes zero sense... 😏
In my 30 years of being licensed in NJ, I have never been asked to prepare a survey certificate and don't think that they exist in NJ, with the exception of Condo certs.
Most land value in NJ is high and it is rare that a mortgage company or title company will waive the requirement for a land survey as they want to make sure that their own interests in the property are covered in case there is a default by the mortgagee or a title dispute. Most cash buyers will still want to know where their boundaries are and pay for a survey. Regardless, for $200 or $300, my crews are not even looking at their rig, regardless of property size.
There is no such thing as a Mortgage inspection here in NJ.
We have good relations with a couple of title companies. They will call us prior to a closing if they have reason to believe that a survey was performed. They will be checking to see if we have been paid. We call occasionally for a deed, they call occasionally for a survey plat. Works out good for everyone. I know that they will give us as much of a headsup as they can for a closing dependent upon a survey, but mostly, we can't oblige due to backlog.
When the housing market crashed in 2008, I was one of the victims of the economy that lost their jobs. I was fortunate enough to have a long list of contacts and clients that followed me from place to place, many of them real estate agents.
With what unemployment was paying back then, there was no way that I could afford to feed my family and keep a roof over our heads, so, I rolled the dice and started my own shop, based out of my home office.
In 2009, with the contacts that I had, almost no surveyors in my area had work but I had a steady workflow. Even in an extremely depressed market, I was charging a minimum for $700 for a residential 1/4 acre title survey and ended up working for most of the larger residential real estate companies in my area. I was only offering that price because my overhead was low but, after about a year, I had to lease office space outside of my home and increased my prices accordingly.
In NJ, for a residential resale or new construction, the buyer pays. 99.99% of mortgage companies require a complete survey. The cost of the survey is usually escrowed and paid on closing day in a check from the closing agent.
It is impossible to do construction surveying for $25/hour when you consider the costs of equipment, insurances, supplies and payroll, even if it is a one man crew. You won't even find a half decent PC for less than $30/hour, if he or she is worth anything.
