I don't know if things are different in other parts of the country, my particular specialty is real estate in and around Charlotte NC. But around here, part of the due diligence on purchasing a home is in obtaining a new survey. We're old school here in North Carolina. Our surveyors operate on the old method of metes and bounds. And you need a new survey to know where your corners lie (you may want a fence at some point, a storage shed, a pool, etc). Also, you need that survey if you want full title insurance coverage against future problems with encroachments and errors and such.
So we get after our buyers to get surveys-please don't regret trying to save $300 if you run into a problem down the road on this, one of your largest financial investments!
Anyhoo. Got a call from one of our most trusted surveyors yesterday. He was out looking at a parcel in an established neighborhood in downtown Concord NC, a lovely community called Beverly Hills that has been there for ages and always does quite well. I'm representing the buyers in this transaction. We have been anxiously awaiting the survey, since the sellers had lived here for over 20 years and they didn't have an old survey for us to consider (we only had the ballpark information available in the Cabarrus County GIS). As the surveyor went back into the wooded back section of the lot (this is a heavily wooded parcel), he came across a surprise-a private enterprise, as it were.
Marijuana, mary jane, ganja, weed. Happily growing in portable containers at the backside of the property. Our surveyor immediately called the local police to let them know about this undocumented business venture. Interestingly enough, the police department had already received a call that there was someone trespassing on this property! Must have been the pot purveyors, worried about the safety of their product. The surveyor wasn't trespassing, he was doing his job, and also doing his civic duty turning in the illegal plants.
Craziness.
Yet one more reason to order a survey...you might discover an alternative income source on the property! (for more information on buying, selling, or investing in Charlotte NC or Concord NC area real estate, email or call Leigh Brown today, I'm always glad to help)