[OXMYX]

The road and tree are visual references. A surveyor isn't going to calculate the center of a tree. (The tree can die and fall down, the road can be moved)

The surveyor uses the stake to zero the theodolite, then the plot can be surveyed/

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

The road and tree are visual references. A surveyor isn't going to calculate the center of a tree. (The tree can die and fall down, the road can be moved)

The surveyor uses the stake to zero the theodolite, then the plot can be surveyed/

Why do we ask what others are having for supper on a gun board?

 

[OXMYX]

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

View attachment 854070

Kids these days.

 

[WVSurveyor]

Surveyors measure from the center of the tree unless the legal description states something contradictory to that. Yours does not. It also is east of a large red oak. Generally, east could be anywhere from due east to 22.5 degrees on a line north or south of east. The tree was also large at the time of the description. Not sure how old that would be. You would have to run the chain of title back until the legal description changed in order to find its age. If it's the original oak then it's a great witness to the corner. The margin of the road is a general phrase that could mean the edge of the travelled way, the actual right-of-way or maybe just off the edge. The proper location 5' east of the oak should be verified from another nearby corner if possible.

 

[WVSurveyor]

Surveys are not done by trees, they use monuments to measure from. Have you looked at your plat from the county assessors office?

It should tell you exactly where the measuring points are.

Trees are monuments and are often used as property corners. Granted, not as much as they used to be but still not uncommon. Actually in the order of boundary law evidence, natural monuments outweigh artificial monuments.

 

[ruffhunter]

My dad used to listen to Wendy Bagwell cassette tapes and quite a collection of Jerry Clower!

Windy Bagwell just stood there with a duh look for a moment and went back inside. I never had anymore trouble out of him and we eventually sold the property and I live in the mountains with just one neighbor, my mother-in-law and have 5 acres.[/QUOTE]

 

[Doc Holliday]

I made a post in the past about property lines. Long story short I technically ended up owning my neighbors driveway after a new survey was requested by a new property owner. My neighbor ended up owning several feet of his neighbors property and so on and so on for each neighbor. The last neighbor ended up owning half the main 2 lane highway running beside his property...lol Of course everybody's property line stayed the same as it was before the new survey. No way was the state going to compensate the neighbor owning half the highway.

 

[Tvov]

....
Am I just me being cautious - do most people buy land without knowing where the property lines are located?

I have met a surprisingly large number of people who have bought houses / land only going by the real estate agent's word on where the property lines are.

When we bought our house, the people working in the local town hall were very nice about helping me get copies of the land surveys in the area and general information on the property. Funny thing, when I went to the town hall, virtually all the people in the land records area were real estate lawyers researching surveys and land titles... lol!

 

[airmotive]

Nothing to add but a funny/interesting anecdote....

So my parents built the first house in an all new subdivision back in 1977. For over a year, their one acre lot and split level ranch was the only green patch for a half mile in all directions. My dad then wanted to widen his driveway by three feet, but that’s when he discovered that his driveway went right up to the very edge of the property line. The survey markers at the time were only wooden stakes with orange flags, since the metal stakes hadn’t been installed yet. So he simply pulled the wood stake, moved it over about ten feet, poured his new driveway and laid sod on the rest. Eventually, someone replaced the wood stake with a concrete marker. Houses were built and the rest of the development filled out. It just happened that the very last plot to be built on was the one my dad “borrowed” from to extend his driveway...some ten years later. Not a peep from anyone.
Dad has been dead for nearly a decade. The house has been sold twice since then. The property line remains exactly where dad wanted it.

 

[Hoochrunners]

An actual witness tree used (no longer) for surveying Washington Island, WI. You can’t see all the tags/markers on it where they measured from.

 

[Z71bill]

My parent's house and the next door neighbor to the north shared a driveway - small town - the two homes had shared it for decades - everyone gets along - it was a pretty long driveway - even longer when you are a kid with a snow shovel in your hand and facing 2 feet deep snow -

But when it came time to put some new gravel on the driveway - both homeowners chipped in to pay for it and since the neighbors were older folks - my dad, brother and I would spread the gravel around and make it look nice.

The old folks eventually died - house was sold to a college professor. First thing he wanted to do was get a survey to determine where the property line was - my dad said he didn't see the need - why not just keep sharing it - but the guy was sort of snarky -

So my dad ask - what difference will it make? The guy says he thinks the driveway is his and he wants to build a fence -

So my dad says go ahead I will pay half the cost -

The survey comes back - say the drive was was 9 feet wide - the property line determined by the surveyor split it - 8 feet 9 inches was ours - and 3 inches was the neighbor. There was also a giant tree about 2 feet inside of the neighbors property and maybe 6 feet between the tree and his house - no way he could drive a car to his garage unless he was using "our" driveway.

So my dad sees the neighbor come outside and goes over to talk with him -

He starts out by telling him he thinks the fence is a good idea - he would have never though about building one - but now thinks it would be a nice improvement - and he says he would be willing to split the cost with the guy if he still wanted one.

The look on the guys face - he started saying the fence was a bad idea and it would be so much better if we just shared it - my dad said he would think about it - maybe build a fence and pay for it himself. My dad would never build a fence - he was just Fing with the guy.

We eventually became pretty good neighbors - he bought a giant snow blower - and I never had to shovel the driveway again - and after my dad died - us kids were all gone - just my mom living there - he would clear the snow out of the driveway and also do her sidewalks.

 

[Wayward Son]

My last piece of land actually used trees as a border and they were included in the deed description, so that's why I assumed this to be the case here. A stake in the ground makes more sense, lol.

He's not disputing it...yet. This started when his toothless retard of an idiot was bushhogging the field and came well across the fenceline. He removed a lot of blackberry bushes that we'd wanted to harvest from, and I ended up speaking to King Turd. He actually claims that the fence - which has likely been there since before either of us were born - wasn't the property line.

Sigh. Just my luck to have a rich neighbor who's a dick.

In my state after 25 years of being undisputed as a property barrier a fence will become the property line even if its not set on the actual line.

 

[OXMYX]

Ever seen a bottle cap nailed to the street?

Now you know what that is.

 

[WVSurveyor]

One of the most interesting corners I've come across was a hole drilled in the concrete sidewalk with a .38 casing inserted into it. The subdivision plat called for a number of them at various corners along the street. I found quite a few. The primers were still in them with the firing pin mark. I suppose the original surveyor used what was readily available. That end of town probably had a lot of spent casings lying around.