How to find the property line of any home! (Must watch!)

Do not be fooled, here is a way to find the property line of your home.

Disclaimer: Please consult your own attorney and legal advise. I am not you attorney or Real Estate Agent. Please consult your own professional for advise on your property.

[ryanwilliams]

I’m in Michingan and the housing market here over the last 7-8 years is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Homes that were bought for $130K in 2015 are now being sold for $590k. I’m talking about tiny, disgusting, poorly built 950 square foot shit boxes in quite mediocre neighborhoods. Then you’ve got Better, average sized homes in nicer neighborhoods that were $300K+ 10 years ago selling for $750k+ now. Wild times.

[rickagulia]

I have a friend who bought his first house, and it needed a new fence which was made of wood. So he wanted to but up a wall so he went to the neighbors and told them he wanted to put up a wall and all he wanted was the cost of half the price of a wooden fence and he would pay for the rest. They all declined so he told them that he would do a survey and set the wall back so it was only on his property. It turns out everyone had encroach on his property by many feet . So the neighbors had to move sheds that had foundations and one had to remove pool decking. Just because they said no to the fair offer he made.

[geraldstone]

Get a Registered Land Surveyor. Unless you have a Registered Land Surveyor nothing you do yourself will hold up in court.

[monaestewart]

In FL, a few days ago(today is 3.30.24), Gov DeSantis signed a bill AGAINST Squatters. The Police, can Now escort/evict, Day 1. No court dates. Kudos to the Governor.

[lizzieb]

Thank you! I’m a Floridian who intentionally left a 3 ft wide space between my new fence and my neighbors existing fence line in order to create a space wide enough to push my lawn mower between the fences in order to care for the utility easement that runs BEHIND my back fence (it’s unbuildable, but I need to keep it mowed and accessible for the Electric Company.) That said, next door neighbor came along, while I was out of the country and put up new fence flush next to mine…encroaching on the 3’ path of my property I intentionally left clear. When I got home I told him the fence had to come down because it was not only on my property but it blocked access to my utility easement. Well, he LOST HIS MIND! The Sheriff had to be called he was so angry. I told him he should raise hell with fence company for using my fence as the boundary lines rather than taking the time to look at the survey or the pins - which BTW still had red ribbons on them from when MY fence people surveyed my property. What a mess. He was pissed but I wasn’t wrong.

[brendalakios]

Our current property had a big indent in the back. We hired a surveyor and he found two previous stakes which our back neighbor covered up. This guy built his back fence twenty five feet into our back yard. And the east guy built his fence five feet into our yard. Our lot is 147' by 301". So, armed with a legal, certified survey we reclaimed our property. The two other owners could only watch us tear down their wood fences and my husband put up 448 feet of 6' tall chain-link, with top rail and bottom tension wire. We felt a lot better really. The back guy was fuming and eventually sold his home. The guy on the east became friends with us. He had admitted that he put his fence on our land. The survey cost us $850. Since we paid cash for our home here in Southern California we were not required to get a survey. But I am glad we did. He gave us a big discount as he was a Vietnam vet, and so is my husband.

[ochuki]

I’m a Land Surveyor who was pleasantly surprised by this content. I will add that in most states the establishment and retracing of boundaries by non-licensed individuals constitutes unlicensed practice. It’s fine to gather information and be informed, but please refrain from marking neighbor’s corners or “informing” them about the location of property boundaries.

[cheesegrits]

Really good info Jack! Worst thing any property owner can do is let trees grow in their fence line.

[fatmanoutdoors]

"Good fences make good neighbors." - That means "good" in all respects, including the legal property line evaluation. Get it right the first time and there should be no disputes.

[Jamesg]

The best time to talk with your neighbor about where they understand the property line to be is the very first time you meet. Anytime after that it's an issue.

[MJGMA]

We bought a house and the house next-door was vacant for several years then 3 years later someone bought it. She came over and said a concrete retainer wall (was there when we bought it) our block of houses were built into a hillside was on her property. Well she got a survey done and the walkway of her house was actually on our property by 3 feet and a fence was 5ft on our property lol. She is a karen. We removed her walkway and a fence she put up. She tried taking us to court and the judge said its their property. If she wasn't a karen we would of let everything as is BUT she lost so much face in this small town lol

[bathtubs]

My neighbor and I needed a fence and she offered to get it done. Her tree grew so big, it broke part of it down. We agreed to let her put the fence around her tree. She just went into a Sr. home. I was starting to worry about any possible new owners claiming our land. You al have eased my mind. Thank you. I love my dog and need a fence, but this may all I have to leave my kids.

[pootieputin]

Get a survey even if you aren't required to.

[paulspratt]

An easement is not ownership its permission to enter to service equipment.

[robertm]

Our neighbor claimed we weren't mowing all of our yard, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and mowed until I hired a surveyor. It ended up being halfway between where we both thought, but I discovered we had a lot more land behind us than we originally thought. Always important to get a survey before you build fences or sheds.

[policyanalyst]

There are actually people who claim land that is NOT theirs, remove official survey markers, put up fences 2 feet outside of their property line and even yelled at me for walking on an 18 foot public easement once.

[gaiustacitus]

Yes, sometimes the stakes get moved...or even removed.

[MReadLS]

I’m a surveyor, I wish all my clients were this knowledgeable and understood the value of the survey.

[ZachComa]

I work with Civil Engineers and Surveyors. I make a lot of the legal plats for land acquisitions when required either for new proposed ROW or proposed Temp or Perm Easements for civil construction of varying types. On most projects, there will be at least one or two or seven changes to existing properties and ROW as undiscovered and conflicting plats and documents make their way through the record and legal system. It's a mess. Surveyors are usually correct with their calculations and measurements (usually), but they're only as good as the information they have to work with. Nothing is 100%.

[womanatthewheel]

I used to do surveying and can tell you this is not the way to determine your property lines. Power poles, sidewalks, and other infrastructure are ZERO proof of property lines. Unless you are a surveyor, you need to hire a licensed surveyor to complete a boundary survey to locate property lines. Don't ever assume that metal pins you find are property corners, they may also be offsets or just junk. And that bank survey? It is NOT a boundary survey, it is an Improvement Location Certificate. Very important. Bank surveys ONLY show encroachments onto a property, they DO NOT establish the location of property lines. You can't cheap out on boundary line disputes.