S*** happens!
Assumptions are wonderful, until they aren't.
I surveyed a similar situation several years ago.
The property was being purchased from the estate and the last heir had appointed a executor to handle everything after he past.
The executor sold the property and the funds were sent to an organization as per the will.
About 9mos later the buyer flipped the property to sell and Title Company requested the three parcels be described as one whole tract.
Problem was that only two tracts were conveyed out of the Estate according to the buyer's deed with luck he was still alive.
It got to be a big stink because the Executor claimed that he had been dismissed already, whatever that means.
IMVHO, the Executor's business was not finished until all properties of the estate had been deeded per terms of the will.
It was a big goof because the land not conveyed had the well, carport/storage building and patio were on the tract not conveyed.
The boundary was located 2 feet from the back wall of the house and at the end of the two steps down to the patio.
I got paid and nobody ever would tell me how they solved the problem.
Caveat Emptor...or in Okie-talk, "watch out for body-putty". Another fine example of what could have been avoided by hiring a surveyor...or a title company that did what they should.
I surveyed a large development PUD (planned unit development) area some time back that included everything from commercial to SFR. On the edge of the development few rows of town houses were built and sold. The townhouses backed up to a beautiful wooded area with a clear spring brook. After a couple of years a number of the residents had pretty little rock paths and timber edged flower gardens back in the woods with picnic tables. When it came time to burn diesel for Phase II almost all of them were shocked to realize their property stopped just a foot past their 6' concrete patio in the back. They were going to get to look at the back of a medical professional building.
Some bitched and moaned and swore up and down the developer "represented" the property as extending into the woods. Who knows what the buyers were told? But the fact remained the PUD was filed and showed all the ultimate development, including the almost non-existent back yards. They all felt screwed but had no one to blame but themselves.
Let the buyer beware.
We had one similar recently.
For some reason this particular house was on two titles. One was a very small triangle that basically covers the road frontage where the driveway is (about 30% of the total frontage).
The owner had a mortgage and then defaulted. In walks the bank to sell and discovered that they had only taken the large title as security. We were asked by the bank to remark the small triangle to illustrate to purchasers that that piece was not being sold. The last time I went past it appears the house did sell by the small triangle was fenced off so I gather the original owner is still holding onto it.
Pedestrian access to the house is fine but there is no vehicle access until something is sorted. I guess that little triangle will be expensive.
Well. I don't get it.
A house/land is probably the most expensive and important purchase that anyone will make in life.
Neglecting the proper research and knowledge of the property just doesn't make sense.
Years ago in a neighboring community, I was laying out a modest s/d. While surveying along the boundaries abutting a relatively new s/d, a property owner came out of their house and confronted me. What was I doing there? I told them exactly what I was doing and then I was advised that I was wrong. I was told that the property that I was surveying was a nature preserve.
They had bought the lot and built because the real estate agent told them that property abutted a nature preserve and nothing would ever be developed.
I told them that I had many years surveying in the area and that the nature preserve was about half mile to the west of the property. They said that the realtor had showed them a map showing it next to the preserve at the time of the sale. I said that I would be curious to see it. Later, they tracked me down and showed me the "map". It was a sales brochure for the s/d, that had a "sketchy" sketch of the s/d showing the nature preserve on the south side of the development. I have seen better location and proximity sketches for new business openings.
I just didn't get it. These were educated people so I thought.
"Washington state doesn't require surveys of property lines, so unless you look at the tax assessors map, you wouldn't have known... And we didn't even think to do that."
It sounds to me like she is saying: 'I am going to blame it on the state law, but we didn't even think to look at a map.' People these days just always want to blame someone else, even if it is the state. Even if that isn't what she meant, there is so much wrong with that sentence it is unfathomable to me.
I bet they will never buy property again without looking an assessor map. I just hope they wont buy one without consulting a PLS.
Hopefully others will learn from this stupidity.
Oh an how about "It is one of those unexpected expenses that home ownership brings."
and lastly "despite really experienced real estate agents no one noticed..."
This could go in the 20 biggest thread. Actually I think it is there already.
Watch out on that assessor's map. Property tax notices came out a few days ago here. I had one too many in my stack. Sent me one for my neighbors' house and acreage with my name on it. I took it to the courthouse and got it all straightened out. But, I've been having fun with the neighbors, as well. Told them to cough up the tax dollars or move out so I can rent it to someone who will pay their own bills.
The scariest thing about that story is that the home owner said she will look at the assessors map next time. I've seen tooany cases where the assessors map was just plain wrong. The GIS folks making this maps only have tax revenue in mind. They just care that a piece of land is getting taxed, not whether or not the map shows the line in the correct place. I would bet money that for a period of time after the county took possession of those lots, their tax map didn't show this. Maybe the sellers agent saw that incorrect instance of the tax map at that time, and assumed it was as reliable as a property survey with a full title search considered by the surveyor.
It's sad that States are encouraging real estate transactions to forgo surveying the real estate being sold. This is exactly what causes these situations.
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Sounds fishy to me, no survey, tax map, probably a 50-50 chance that they own the backyard
Real Estate Professionals lobby is more powerful than the Professional Land Surveyor's lobby. That is why these things happen.
I hope that this article was published after the tax sale and that it didn't stir up the sharks that frequent those types of things.