The Importance Of Land Surveying To Real Estate

Land surveying offers remarkable value in terms of protecting your real estate investment. It is a process that must be carried out as soon as possible, after successfully purchasing land. This article intends to analyse the importance of doing a land survey for your property.

Land Surveying is one of the oldest professions in the world. The first land surveys date back to nearly 3,000 years ago, when Egyptian Surveyors subdivided the fertile land around the Nile River and worked on re-marking the land after the annual flooding of the Nile River.

Although the purchase of a property seems like one of the most epoch making events of one’s life, ensuring that the real estate property you are buying is in the good standing can be dicey.

Regardless, we still find a lot of people excitedly investing in properties yet neglecting the aspect that deals with land surveying before a purchase.

Land surveying is the measurement and mapping of our surrounding environment using mathematics, specialised technology and equipment. Surveyors measure just about anything on the land, in the sky or on the ocean bed. They even measure polar ice-caps.

Land Surveyors are the professionals saddled with the responsibility of carrying out land surveys. They are experts in determining land size and measurement. They also give advice and provide information to guide the work of engineers, architects and developers.

It is necessary to mark the boundaries on the ground, so that they are clear to observers standing on or near the property. Many properties have considerable problems in regard to improper bounding, miscalculations in past surveys, titles, and easements. Also many properties are created from multiple divisions of a larger piece over the course of years; and with every additional division, the risk of miscalculation increases. The result can be abutting properties not coinciding with adjacent parcels, resulting in gaps and overlaps.

We depend on Surveying to ensure order in the physical world around us. Surveyors play an integral role in land development, from the planning and design of land subdivisions through to the final construction of roads, utilities and landscaping.

Surveyors on the other hand are among good company, working closely with their peers in the fields of engineering, architecture, geology and planning. Their role underpins these industries; Surveyors are the first people on any construction site, measuring and mapping the land. These primary measurements are then used by architects to understand and make the most of the unique landscape when designing, and engineers to plan structures accurately and safely, ensuring buildings not only fit with the landscape but are able to be constructed.

A land survey includes:
• Boundary measurements.
• Details of the property including the presence of buildings, sidewalks, fences, trees and stumps, driveways, and other features.
• Any discovered encroachments.
• Easements, right of way, adverse possession, and other legal appurtenances.

Why You Need a Land Survey before Purchasing a Property
Land surveys allow you to identify the property lines and boundaries of the land you are buying, which is especially helpful in determining which areas and structures are included in the deed. Hiring a land surveyor, ensures that you are actually getting the property you are paying for. Land surveyors verify that all the features and improvements described in the deed are actually part of the real estate property you are planning to purchase.

A property that had an old survey performed doesn’t guarantee that everything in it is accurate. The property owner could have ordered the land surveyor to omit specific details on the old survey that can affect the value of the property. A land survey can detect if a neighbor is encroaching onto the property that you are planning to buy, which can cause a lot of problems in the future and can potentially turn into an expensive lawsuit.

Performing a land survey before purchasing a piece of real estate can prevent you from making a costly mistake of buying a property that has no use to you. It guarantees that you get what you pay for, which is a lot cheaper than realizing that what you have bought is nowhere near the value that you have paid.

A land survey is arguably the most important document in a real estate transaction. Don’t buy land or build a house without one.

It’s far better to have a survey before closing so that encroachment issues can be resolved in advance than have to deal with them later.