Survey.

I do not consider myself an expert on any subject I document in this journal, and the science of surveying is certainly fine example.  This is a professional service a landowner can typically enlist within the scope of their civil engineer engagement, or a surveyor as a stand-alone firm.  Julie and I hired Kenneth R. Coleman, P.S. and his firm Coleman Land Surveying who did a fine job in a very timely manner at a fair price.

In support of due diligence, a boundary survey will be necessary for the title company to ensure the measure of the property, if there are any easements that encroach on the property, and to create/validate the legal description.  For purposes of fencing, or the benefit of the landowner learning the parameter of their land, a staked survey may be helpful, where the type and frequency of the markers are a negotiated detail.  When considering build sites, or landscape architecture, a topographical survey could be beneficial, and in some municipal ordinance may even be required.

I feel the survey work is one of the most practical aspects of the diligence where the landowner learns less than obvious details of their property.  In our case, the access to the property is across a portion of land we would not own, but have an easement which is a legal right to cross this land for ingress and egress.