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I've slept since then...............probably more than 11,000 times

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Strictly Surveying

Last Post by Norman_Oklahoma 3 months ago

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holy-cow

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At some point around 1980, a local bank foreclosed on an industrial firm that occupied approximately 20 acres with numerous buildings spread across the entire area. The bank hired the recently retired County Engineer/Surveyor to chop the area into 10 tracts of varying sizes and shapes, but, with one or more buildings on each tract, and access easements to cross one or more new tracts to gain access from one of the various entrances to the interior tracts. This field work was performed very well using a transit and steel tape. This was simply the aliquot west half of the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of the section. Existing fence lines were used as the north and east lines of the parent tract with the west and south lines following the section and quarter lines, respectively. The surveyor reported bearings to the nearest minute and distances to the nearest 10th of a foot. Bars were set at all tract corners and right of way lines on the west and south lines of the parent tract.

There was no need for a formal subdivision plat with 20 signatures. It was just a survey to show future, potential tracts to be sold off by the bank. And, in fact, there were several deviations made as each group of buildings were sold off with changes to the original intended plan over the years.

My first involvement came in about 1990. The last survey I performed on that foreclosed property was in 1995 or 1996, The bank representative with whom I had worked on most of my surveys called me last week. He started off by mentioning the name of the industrial firm so that immediately had to switch my mind to the memory of those various projects from 30 to 35 ago. When I was finally allowed to say something, I said, "Kent, do you remember a fellow named Peter Olson? He was my bank contact on the first several surveys I performed on that property. The last few were working with you." Kent was a wet-behind-thed-ears law school graduate who replaced Peter Olson all those years back in time. The last project I had done was to cut a tract with two buildings into two tracts with one building on each. Incredibly, the bank had never sold one of those two tracts and Kent was finally going to close the file on the 45 years since the foreclosure occurred. I told Kent the main thing I could remember from the final day onsite setting bars was that it was colder than a witch's titty and snow had partially melted and then froze into a single sheet of ice, requiring us to slide our boots to move from spot to spot instead of walking. That was especially fun coming down the asphalt driveway from the highway to the common lot elevation.

Posted : June 2, 2026 2:53 am

holy-cow

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Pulled this one from Page 7 of 7. It has been viewed about 1200 times in three weeks yet no one has made a comment of any kind.

BTW, learned a few days ago that the bank that has owned this tract since the repossession is selling out to another cluster bank. This bank has 15 places of business plus drive-thrus. The bank that is merging and taking over has 17. The top dog at the new bank was once the top dog of one of the banking locations of the old bank. He and I had a great relationship both in surveying work and in my personal finance. The old bank started as one bank purchased by the current banking family 59 years ago.

Posted : June 23, 2026 6:03 pm

GaryG

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I think there should be a website called the Holy-cow Chronicles ! 🤩

Posted : June 23, 2026 6:50 pm

Norman_Oklahoma

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Posted by: @holy-cow

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the bank that has owned this tract since the repossession is selling out to another cluster bank.

There is a fair chance that you are witnessing a shotgun marriage arranged by the FDIC. That is how they work when a bank gets in trouble. If very soon you see that there are ±15 branches of the amalgamated bank then you can be sure of it. Your pal at the bank will be the last one to breathe a word.

Posted : June 23, 2026 10:41 pm

holy-cow

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@norman-oklahoma

That would be very interesting for one reason. I had an account at the first bank that was purchased by that family. They added two more quickly after the first. Then about 1987 they were in a great position when quite a number of banks went under. They acquired this bank from FDIC after the failure of the old bank. They made a minor alteration to the old bank's name and reopened the very next day. They acquired more banks. Then they found it lucrative to make each of these banks a branch bank and sell the charter for each old bank to other banks who wanted to expand. The last one they sold went to a bank based in Colorado which was looking to expand into Kansas.

I think what is really happening is that the sons and son-in-law of the original couple in the family are each somewhere in their sixties. They never worked for anyone else except the family banking business. The matriarch of the family is nearing 90 and her husband is deceased. I think they are going to sell their bank shares and sip mai tais in some island in the south Pacific. The spoiled grandchildren have never had to worry about money and probably have no interest in taking over operations.

Another bank where I do business is in process of taking over another bank and will be the survivor bank.

Another bank where my wife has an account has taken over six or eight other banks in the past five years, including two in Colorado which are approximately 500 miles from the main bank.

Posted : June 23, 2026 11:42 pm

Norman_Oklahoma

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" .... the main thing I could remember from the final day onsite setting bars was that it was colder than a witch's titty and snow had partially melted and then froze into a single sheet of ice, requiring us to slide our boots to move from spot to spot instead of walking..... "

We work in the rain here in the PNW. We do not work the one or two days a year when it's icy cold out.

Posted : June 24, 2026 9:25 am