Alan!!!
NW corner....and CLOCKWISE....
DDSM
Careful!
I have seen people block driveways with fences and build speed bumps. I've seen them dig deep pot holes. Never yet have I seen a moat, but don't give them any ideas! :'(
The problem is that not all of the area are completely contained....ie....one area is the garage but only about 85 percent of it...the balance being non-exclusive or shared space so it will definitely involve some bearings and distances. I'm not that concerned with the legal aspects of preparing my own legal descriptions. I can only do it as an individual and solely for myself and I would never charge for the service.
Texas tries not to interfere with individual business. For instance an individual in Texas can represent themselves if they like in any court (other than bankruptcy and some instance of probate) but can't represent the company they might own. I have sold dozens of properties and have never paid a lawyer to create a Warranty Deed. I have always prepared them myself and saved the $150 for 10 minutes of work.
Still...I wouldn't get caught up in bearings.
"Beginning at the NW corner of the garage; thence easterly along the north wall of said garage a distance of 19'; thence in a southerly direction through said garage to a point on the south wall of the garage 19' from the SW corner of said garage"
No matter what, make your intent very clear. Judges tend to resolve any ambiguities in deed descriptions with intent.
The parking space is the biggest problem.
I'm trying to help mostly because of my curiosity. That said I have stepped out on a very small limb here. I am going to stop while I can still see the trunk. Best of luck. Keep us informed.
Regarding Your Gap
I understand and appreciate what you're saying. I have purchased or caused to be purchased hundreds of surveys in my career and expect to be doing so in the future. I plan to be developing beach lots along the Texas coast. This just isn't a case where I need to hire a surveyor yet....if at all. I don't expect the settlement of this issue to involve subdividing a lot with a subdivision. I do expect it to be resolved though. My purpose is simply to establish the proper areas and the square footage involved to get the ball rolling. I will probably need proper survey later but but not yet. I do need to properly establish what will be surveyed eventually.
> Again, I say do the bounds, don't worry about the metes. Write a simple description that describes what you want to claim.
Here's what the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure specify be done to describe real property subject of a Trespass to Try Title suit:
Section 8. Trespass to Try Title
RULE 783. REQUISITES OF PETITION
The petition shall state:(a) The real names of the plaintiff and defendant and their residences, if known.
(b) A description of the premises by metes and bounds, or with sufficient certainty to identify the same, so that from such description possession thereof may be delivered, and state the county or counties in which the same are situated.
In other words a description of the parcel as being a part of Lot Such-and-Such of So-and-So Subdivision, Plat Reference, in the City of Hoseville, County of D'Ismay, Texas, being that certain part of said lot bounded by the inside surface of the walls of the Northwest bedroom of the house presently situated upon said lot, a room approximately 9 ft. by 12 ft., ought to work.
Regarding Your Gap
Well then if you don't need a surveyor, what are you doing on a surveyor message board?
If you just claim to the interior walls couldn't the sister tear down the walls and leave you with a wall-less volume of space?
Then Do It And Shut Up
The name HardAssets implies what you failed to get done in the past.
A much more appropriate name for you excludes the "ets".
Paul in PA
Actually the is a large driveway that can park 2 across in a large rectangular area and the space involved is along 2 edges of that slab.
I think you're right in the manner of describing the area as it certainly makes it easier for a judge to understand, keeps all the degrees/minutes/seconds of out the deal for right now yet clearly establishes something that could easily be surveyed later.
It also has the added benefit of not pissing off all the, as described earlier, th "anal cantankerous" types on this forum!
You have definitely been the most helpful. I hope that fact doesn't cost you too much around here.
"If I had known surveyors had this much fun and were this entertaining, I might have become one!"
You certainly have the "anal and cantankerous" part down!
Hey Hard,
If you are God why did you come here for advice?
:good:
A #4 rebar knife to you...
For cutting to the chase...
"together with the easterly 85% of the garage where my cars are currently on blocks (standard 8"x16")..."
DDSM
Then Do It And Shut Up
Do people actually hire you or do you work for your brother-in-law? I guess insecurities run deep in your part of the country? Although...if you can survey half as good as you can whine about things, you should make some real money.
TED?
"I'm not arrogant! I'm bulletproof! Get it right!"
TED - IS THAT YOU?
TED?
Naw...TED would set gold coins in the walls and call for them as monuments...
DDSM
I thought about that. I intend to tie all the description to and including the exterior walls. It seems to me it would be possible to move along an interior wall while also referencing the exterior wall I'd be moving along a line parallel to.
You have actually gotten a lot of good advice on here and well as some (mostly) good natured ribbing. You just have to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Please do let us know what happens. This is going to be very interesting.
> Gee...I didn't realize that this was a forum of Texas law legal experts. I actually thought that the posters here were surveyors.
For the narrow portion of the law that pertains to land boundaries, the boundary surveyor should be the legal expert, and as you've been advised, many here are. The average boundary surveyor knows quite a bit more about boundary law than the average attorney, unless that attorney practices almost exclusively in boundary and title matters.
>You're right though....I am quite confident that I know more about the legal aspects of real estate than the average surveyor.
>
Then you are simply arrogant and need not ask for advice, "technical" or otherwise. apparently, you already believe your level of knowledge to be beyond expert, so no one here will be able to give you any advice that you will accept.
Oh, I take that back, you ate up the tongue-in-cheek advice given farther down about the importance of describing your distances to the thousandth of a foot. But perhaps you should follow that advice, then any surveyor reading it at a later date will know instantly that it was written by an abject amateur.
> There's a big difference in describing metes and bounds and conducting an actual survey. Besides creating a metes and bounds description isn't brain surgery.
That's true. So many more people who are able to read a boy scout compass think they can write an effective description than think they are able to measure precisely. what they don't understand is that an effective M & B description is either a verbal description of a surveyed boundary, or it is a verbal description designed to effectively guide on to the boundary and provide information to identify it once one is there.
I bet you thought that it was simply a recitation of bearings and distances that form a closed figure. You're right, it's not brain surgery. It's not an exercise in extreme precision but one of thoroughness and accuracy. It requires a moderate degree of technical precision and a high degree of common sense.
>And exactly where is the conflict of interest in me describing a piece of property that I own?
>
There probably isn't one since you don't have the expertise to manipulate the numbers in a convincing manner to unjustly enlarge the estate. Don't worry about that. It's a debatable point even among surveyors.
> I'm also guessing it was an "expert" who created the 0.1 foot closing gap in the first place. I wonder how that could have possibly happened? I'm not even a surveyor and I managed to discover it.
Perhaps, but have you been able to isolate just where the error is and then properly account for it in your calculations prior to creating a description? Besides, it might have come from some real estate agent who wrote a description because he thought he was smarter than the average surveyor.
Describe the width of the "line"...
"extending from the (color) of interior paint outward to the outside (type) brick finish of the following courses...to wit
DDSM
