Advantages of Environmental Land Surveys for Residential Properties

Relying on the legal description of your prospect property alone is an impractical way to evaluate an investment, regardless whether you are buying it for residential or business purposes. Seeking the help of professional property surveyors can help you discover details about your property boundaries that the legal description may have failed to include. Professional surveys can also help you settle typical property description issues before they even become problems. In addition to boundary surveys, you may also seek other certifications like zoning descriptions/letters, environmental certifications, flood plain classifications, and other documentation that might be helpful in evaluating the property before purchase or development. Other advantages of environmental and boundary survey for residential properties include:

• Determining precise boundary lines of the property. Most landowners seek the help of surveyors to locate the exact location of the boundary lines as well as other lines of possession or occupancy, which are critical pieces of information to obtain before building fences, paving a driveway, or adding a sunroom to your property. All too often, property owners operate under the wrong assumption of boundary placement between their property and their neighbor's property, and land surveys can settle this dispute.

• Evaluating the presence of rivers, ponds, streams, creeks, lakes, and wells. Typical survey reports only include visible surface waters. With the help of professional inspections, you get to uncover underground waters and wetlands, which can greatly impact development.

• Discovering existing improvements. Surveyors can also help determine recent improvements, repairs, and alterations to the property as well as ensure that the property is not in violation of any restrictions and laws regarding bulk, height, frontage, dimension, setbacks, building lines, parking, and other boundary rules. Surveyors can also determine whether improvements are in violation of a particular local ordinance, or any other law that may get you in trouble with authorities.