House Lot: Can't Find (Old) Surveyor's Pin

[racookpe1978]

1. Minor problem in the grand scheme of things, but I can't seem to find my front yard ....

More accurately, my neighbor and I have pleasantly and peacefully lived next to each other for 24 years, and we can't figure out where her yard ends and mine begins so we can replace the ancient fence on the back of our lots. She says the old fence behind her backyard was in the wrong spot, and wants to check.

The deed says"
"Beginning at the iron pin on the easterly side of SH 470 feet northerly, as measured along the easterly side of SH, from the intersection of the easterly side of SH with the northerly side of GHT, said point of beginning also being the at the line dividing lots 25 and 26.

But I can't find any pin. Am I starting at the wrong point down the street? It seems clear he is not using the street centerline, but is the usual practice lines "A" intersection at the grass and curb, or lines "B" intersection further out. I don't think it is on the corner "radius" at point "C".

2. There are two small hills on the easterly side of street SH. Am I accurate enough measuring "up and down" the hills, or try to get a correction so I am measuring an "ideal flat plane" as our lots are shown in the county plot plan?

 

[racookpe1978]

Second photo.

 

[IRstuff]

How old is the deed? You need to have the timeframe of the deed and then determine how wide the two streets were at that time.

Looks to me like the street has been paved over a few times, so the pin could be under a bunch of asphalt. Since the pin is not a utility access, they may not have cared that it got covered over.

Or, it was pulled out the last time they prepped for a repaving.



TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[racookpe1978]

Last paving was about 15 years ago. The deed was (probably) written a little before 1988.

I don't think the street's been widened since then.

 

[IRstuff]

1988 would be when you bought the property? But the wording on the deed is probably carried over from the previous owners, back to the point where the properies were subdivided originally, which could be many decades earlier. The portion of the one house I can see at all in the pictures looks to be probably built early to mid last century?

And who knows when the road was originally done, then redone?

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[IRstuff]

Your best bet ought to be the actual lot maps that should be at the county recorder's office. A decent one might get you within a couple of inches. At the minimum, the recorded lot map is also what might be the only legally unambiguous property line definition that currently exists.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[racookpe1978]

OK. I will re-check that. This was a mid-60's, very early 70's developmental made by one builder, so it was laid out well before most of the modern "rules" and conveniences.

We are in an unincorporated part of the county, not inside any local city limits, and the only other property map I've found just has "lines" for each road and plat outlines. (That map doesn't have double lines for roads.)

 

[amb2002]

I would suspect the description is based on the edge of the road right-of-way (as opposed to any physical feature of the roadway itself). As IRstuff noted, the county recorder's office should have a map, and that would likely show the right-of-way widths for SH and GHT. Not sure about where you are, but in my area residential roads usually have a 50 right-of-way, so in that case you would look for the property pin being 25' from the center of the roadway (also assuming the road was built in the center of the right of way, which is not always the case).

 

[beej67]

Your best bet ought to be the actual lot maps that should be at the county recorder's office. A decent one might get you within a couple of inches. At the minimum, the recorded lot map is also what might be the only legally unambiguous property line definition that currently exists.

This.

Also, sometimes pins are hard to find. They sink into the ground and stuff. See if you can rent a metal detector.

Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East -

http://www.campbellcivil.com

 

[TGLG]

If you don't mind spending the time and effort, you might try reviewing the deeds for some adjacent properties beyond your lot and your neighbor's lot. If you can establish with certainty the locations of these other lots, you can locate your property corner based on that.

 

[underhill]

Notwithstanding the responses so far, there are a lot of boundary surveyors over at surveyorconnect.com who might have good advice
(eng-tips being presumably more about eng/topo surveying than legal surveys).

 

[racookpe1978]

To all - Many thank you's. Still working on the problem, but must defer for a few days.

 

[chicopee]

Assuming the pin is still in the corner lot, use a metal detector. That's how my next door neighbord found his pin.

 

[msquared48]

Since the fence has been there longer than 7 years and apparently uncontested up to now, would that not establish the existing lot line, exclusive of the pin?

But you probably want to settle this amicably, so go metal detecting, or hire a surveyor.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[racookpe1978]

Thanks to all - Will go looking there. 8<)