I am happy to report that we have closed on 323 Cedar Ln. WOW! What a ride that transaction was … up and down, up and down. A few lessons learned on the topic of surveys.
A QUICK OVERVIEW:
Tax records stated 5.194 acres. Sellers were under the assumption they owned the amount shown on tax records. When new survey was complete (paid for by buyers), only a day and a half before closing, it came up 1/2 an acre short! What do you do in this situation? Careful negotiation between buyer and seller through their agents!
Ultimately, buyer wants to buy the property and seller wants to sell the property. We have come a long way to let the deal dissolve now. We are so close to closing. Read the OBJECTIONS paragraph in the contract to further understand buyer and seller responsibilities concerning the survey. Buyer submitted objection to survey in writing, as required in the contract, and seller agreed to “cure” their objection.
All in all, buyer and seller came together and the deal is done. I can say that I will put another “system” in place to avoid this type of challenge in the future. A couple things to note:
- Over the past few years, sellers had two surveys done on the property. All three surveys were very close in their measurements, but none showed the total over five acres as did the tax records. Tax records were wrong for long time - who knows how long! The third survey was the only one that stated the actual acreage - and that is what alerted everyone. The first two surveys only showed measurements, but upon further investigation, we learned all three were very close in size.
- Next situation - we will get out the handy calculator and compare old surveys (if they exist) to tax records.
- If there are no existing surveys on a property - it might be a good decision to have the sellers to agree on paying for one upfront. Having an updated survey will help diminish any possible surprises. AND, that is what being a good agent is all about - reducing risk, stress and surprises for our clients.
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