I get a call from a lady I have done some surveying for in the past.
She tells me where the property is and what they would like to do. It is 16 acres and they are selling 12 keeping 4.
I get the records at the court house plot everything up and call her back to discuss it.
The deed description is a portion of a property and is recent enough that if a surveyor did it, it should have the name in there somewhere. Capped pins are called for, but no license number stated. All calls are to seconds and hundredths of a foot, so it looks "surveyed". The closing call has no direction and distance; which is unusual for a modern description in my area. For several reasons, I suspect that it is just fabricated by someone with enough knowledge to be dangerous.
Plot the calls of the 16 acres (by deed) tract and it is only 13 acres. Yet the deed says it is 16. This is going to be fun to explain.
SO I call her up and we start discussing. Of course she doesn't know how it was possible to have that go unnoticed. Shouldn't someone have caught that when she bought the property. She had it surveyed. How would the bank finance that if it was not right. ETC...
Naturally, she want to know what it will cost to accomplish what she wants to do. I give her a fair lump sum fee. You would think I had pulled a gun on her and demanded all her jewelery including her grandmother's wedding ring. She proceeds to tell me that ---- "ALL you have to do is..."
I ask if she would prefer I give her an unrealistic price and then charge more later. Since she and her husband sell/build log homes, she proceeds to tell me how they have to go in with a low bid or someone else will get the work and that is solely because everyone else does not do the work properly. Ever since she has moved here, she has noticed that nothing is ever done right and so on.
Then, she again states how she can not believe that the description she has was not done right, how could that happen.
I felt obliged to point out that the way it happens is that people are given a reasonable price for professional services and then complain. They do not want to pay a fair fee for things to be done properly, so they will then spend time and effort finding a way to get something done in a half ass manner figuring that the problem will be some other person's problem in the future.
I do not think she got it.
BRAVO!!!
she wont get it and neither will you! I know your pain. I just put a quote in on a small survey that I am sure someone will get for around $400. I bid $1800 then I get a call asking if this includes all 4 parcels in the title report? I had only noticed 3 deeds in the title report..amounts to 3 parcels that are about 1.5 acres total (all contiguous). I reread the title report and sure enough there is a 4th deed. so I read the description and see that it covers the same land as 2 of the other deeds. I guarantee that the survey will kill this deal and I called back, and asked for a 100% non-refundable retainer.
btw, I only do these surveys if they are highly profitable, Its not my area and I really only want the job if its worth it.
All calls are to seconds and hundredths of a foot, so it looks "surveyed".
My local title companies do that all the time. What was originally one chain is now 66.00 feet.
I've written descriptions for new lines and left them at tenths or even even feet with calls to new markers. Check back in a few years after the land has transferred from the original and all the distances are now to the hundredth. It's a free for all, I don't assume anything was derived from an original survey anymore. Lots of times the only way to untangle the mess is to go all the way back to the original deeds which were in chains or rods and never to the hundredth of a foot. Calls that were never in the original deeds seem to be added along the way also. Most of the older orignal deeds in may area never had a call to any monuments, just B&D. Most of the bearings are N, E, S & W. I suppose it works in paper but never works on the face of the earth.
"She had it surveyed."
Did you ask by whom?
I was wondering that, too. That's probably where the problem lies.
Lovely story. Many times you get exactly what you pay for. Some times you get even less.
My ring ring of the week came from a lady yesterday who had been referred to me by a very fine fellow. I almost felt bad when I assured her that there was no way in Noel that I would be able to accept the job and meet the requirement that it would not postpone a sale that absolutely had to be closed no later than December 31....of 2014. We discussed what she needed to have done. It turned out she owns most of a block in a tiny platted town that has almost disappeared. Her land is vacant. Someone had approached her about selling two of the nine lots and apparently was willing to actually pay something for them. But, the deal must close in 2014. I explained that in my 30 years of surveying in her county I had never been called upon to do a survey in that tiny town so had no personal stash of information that might help shortcut the typical research process, since the courthouse will be closed down for 4.5 days of the nine days, including the closing date. I directed her to a firm that is closer to her town that has several crews and MIGHT have some information in their files that would be extremely helpful. Then she asked the typical question-of-all-questions, "How much do you think it will cost?" She almost had a coronary when I tossed out a number around $1000. But, that would be my estimate only, the other company might be higher or lower I explained, I have no idea how they price their work. By her reaction, and knowing the extremely low value of land in that little, soon-to-disappear little town, it was clear I had given her a number higher than the planned sale price of those two lots.
Excellent observation and procedure, get a copy of the deed that created the parcel.
rambleon
There must be a pig with wings somewhere.
That person called me back and asked that I proceed. She even (you guys might want to have a seat before reading further) apologized for suggesting I was charging too much.
The call back occurred about a week after I originally posted. I've already finished it. I was pretty much spot on in the pricing to make it worth my while.
> There must be a pig with wings somewhere.
Well yeah, you can put wings on a pig...but doubtful they'll be able to fly. Sounds like you got one that actually flew!
Sounds like she must have gone to another surveyor or two, and got an even higher quote. Sometimes they just don't know the value until they've be educated. She probably wasn't a jerk so much as she didn't understand how complicated what you do is.
