# Property Boundery



## ofishloutdoorsman (May 15, 2002)

Ok, so I don't know if this is the right category to post this in but, here goes, Is there a way to find property corners via GPS off of property descrptions? Specifically, can I find my property line or my NE corner through a GPS cordinate, via property description??? I've got to believe that there has to be a way to do this, any advise or ideas???? Thanks all..


----------



## pheasantguy (Jun 21, 2000)

Yes and no. I asked the same question to a surveyor and this was his response. _The GPS unit that he used, in addition to a transom, etc. was close to $5000. The standard GPS is not accurate enough for legal purposes. In addition only a licensed surveyor in Michigan can legally mark boundary points._ He also stated that if you had a large acreage that you simply wanted to determine the _approximate_ boundary a standard GPS would be relatively close with the key word being relatively.


----------



## bucko12pt (Dec 9, 2004)

We marked the corners of a parcel that my son and I 
bought this year with a GPS. One corner we measured and went to and looked down and there was a nail in a 
cedar stump with a bit of orange flagging left from a 
survey of an adjoining parcel. Lucky................. probably, but you should be able to get close enough to mark your boundaries.

Also, you can go to Google Earth or another mapping website and using their measuring tool, mark the boundaries of your property. Print the overhead and 
if you have features on the ground, you can relate to,
you can come close on the boundaries that way also.

One other way is to go to your County website, Register of Deeds and map your property similar to
Google Earth. If you have one known point, the measuring tool alows you to measure out in feet, yards, miles, etc. and print an overhead of your property.

Takes a little time, but you can get an APPROXIMATE on your lines without spending money on a survey.


----------



## hooks-n-arrows (Oct 25, 2007)

Pheasantgut is right. A handheld GPS is not accurate enough to do a boundary survey. It may be able to get you in the ball park but that's about it. I've been a survey crew chief for over 16 years and we do use GPS a lot, but in order to get the accuracy for survey grade there has to be a base station and a rover. It uses a radio link between the 2 units to solve the ambiguities in order to achieve such tight tolerances in real time.(just a short explanation to a more complicated process).


----------



## ofishloutdoorsman (May 15, 2002)

Thanks for the replies, what I'm trying to determine is just the approximate line, it's thick brushy swampland & visually you can't tell where mine and the neighbors starts or stops so I hoped to get an idea.


----------



## glassman (Dec 27, 2007)

i know that midland co. has the ability to show and print a satilite photo with plot lines. they claim that they are one hundred percent accurate.


----------



## ENCORE (Sep 19, 2005)

Wow. Was wondering the same thing myself today.

I know that a perfect survey has to be done by someone that knows what they're doing, Licensed etc.

However, is it possible to get *APPROXIMATE* GPS coordinates from a survey? When we bought our property, the very first thing that I did after the actual survey was done, was to put 8' treated 4x4's inside the corners (survey pin). I was also fortunate enough, that they put some stakes in on the line, of which I drove steel fence posts beside.

I'm lucky that I put larger markers on the corners. By doing that, I saved the coordinates for each post, knowing that the coordinates will be *APPROXIMATE*. It seems to me  that if you know where the corners are, you could use the "find" and "go to" with your GPS unit to get an *APPROXIMATE* line between posts.

So....... can: SW1/2 of SW1/4 of NE section of (ya, I don't have a clue) be converted to *APPROXIMATE *GPS coordinates? If so, how is it done?


----------



## hooks-n-arrows (Oct 25, 2007)

It could be done in the same manner for approximate locations from a legal descriptions but you would have to find and way point the section corners in the section your land is in and break it down from that. To read the description you mentioned start at the end and read it backwards, so it would be in the NE1/4 of the mile section, then you would be in the SW1/4 of that,then you would take the SW1/2 of that SW 1/4. Sounds like a made up description but that's the process anyhow. So in case you would need to find and waypoint the N1/4 corner, NE section corner, East1/4 and the center of section and divide it the same way the description was read. I don't know what kind of area you're in but I'm in mid-Michigan and around here there is still a lot of old farm fence lines and tree lines that run at most 1/4 mile and half mile lines which are usually in the ball park of where the section lines are which may be close enough for what you're looking for.


----------



## Islander26 (Feb 23, 2004)

bucko12pt said:


> We marked the corners of a parcel that my son and I
> bought this year with a GPS. One corner we measured and went to and looked down and there was a nail in a
> cedar stump with a bit of orange flagging left from a
> survey of an adjoining parcel. Lucky................. probably, but you should be able to get close enough to mark your boundaries.


My A hole neighbors tried doing the same thing by making up property lines. I purchased my property this spring and just had my property surveyed. I spent 2 days with the surveyors and it was well worth my time and money. That nail in the stump is not an iron or stake. Those are used when an existing iron is found. The surveyor will not touch an existing iron and will measure out 4 locations in diferent directions around that iron which could be 25' away. So without having a copy of the certified survey showing where those nails where placed that is no help unless you find the iron.
Check with the county and ask about a registered survey on that section.

Needless to say I have 3+ acres that they claimed as theres


----------



## pheasantguy (Jun 21, 2000)

One other comment. If you do have your property surveyed _you_ need to register the copy of the survey with the Register of Deeds office. I assumed that the surveyor would do this but when doing some other property search I asked the Register of Deeds office why my property survey had not yet been registered. They asked when I had brought in the survey and when I responded that I assumed the surveyor had done so they explained that the property owner is responsible for doing that, not the surveyor.


----------



## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

Sad story about idiot neighbors and line disputes, my friend was served with a legal document stating his fence on lake front property was off by 3 feet, and the neighbor sued him to get the land. Even though he, the neighbor was wrong, it took $5K in attorney fees to get this looser to quit suing and litigating. 
The burden is on the person being sued to prove it and apparently a legal survey was not enough to prove in a court of law. After he won, he ended up buying the house the dirt bag lived in and sold it for a nice profit, but in todays screwed up world you can sue anyone for anything and make the legal team very rich over complete BS. Even good fences dont make good neighbors and here was a perfect case. With acreage it might not need to be that exact but Lake Front, youre talking about $1-$2 K per foot. Good luck with your situation.


----------



## Islander26 (Feb 23, 2004)

pheasantguy said:


> One other comment. If you do have your property surveyed _you_ need to register the copy of the survey with the Register of Deeds office. I assumed that the surveyor would do this but when doing some other property search I asked the Register of Deeds office why my property survey had not yet been registered. They asked when I had brought in the survey and when I responded that I assumed the surveyor had done so they explained that the property owner is responsible for doing that, not the surveyor.


I asked the surveyors about registering also. Basically I was told it will just cost me the 15 bucks to make it public record. As far as needing to be registered to be official, they said it is not neccessary. Even if there are no registered surveys on a section they said they would still contact other companies before starting a survey.


----------



## pheasantguy (Jun 21, 2000)

My surveyor was also supposed to register the survey. I recommended him to two other individuals and they were told the same thing. We all ended up having to do this on our own. Same surveyor, two different counties and Register of Deeds. We were all told that if the survey isn't registered it is if it never was done. I had a nasty property dispute with the moron who bought the property next to mine. I spent money on a survey, title company and attorney fees. In Michigan, by law, it is up to the property owner to prove boundaries in dispute. The moron who disputed the property boundaries never had to prove a thing. His only cost was his attorney's fee after my attorney sent him a letter and a copy of the survey. His attorney responded to my attorney acknowledging the survey and agreeing to it being correct. I wanted to sue to recover some of my costs but my attorney told me that the laws in Michigan do not allow you to do so in that situation. I learned quite a bit from the ordeal. Look up "adverse possession" in regards to property rights in Michigan. It'll make you shake your head in disgust.


----------



## Islander26 (Feb 23, 2004)

pheasantguy said:


> My surveyor was also supposed to register the survey. I recommended him to two other individuals and they were told the same thing. We all ended up having to do this on our own. Same surveyor, two different counties and Register of Deeds. We were all told that if the survey isn't registered it is if it never was done. I had a nasty property dispute with the moron who bought the property next to mine. I spent money on a survey, title company and attorney fees. In Michigan, by law, it is up to the property owner to prove boundaries in dispute. The moron who disputed the property boundaries never had to prove a thing. His only cost was his attorney's fee after my attorney sent him a letter and a copy of the survey. His attorney responded to my attorney acknowledging the survey and agreeing to it being correct. I wanted to sue to recover some of my costs but my attorney told me that the laws in Michigan do not allow you to do so in that situation. I learned quite a bit from the ordeal. Look up "adverse possession" in regards to property rights in Michigan. It'll make you shake your head in disgust.


Its up to you to register it, not the surveyor. As far as "never being done" all you have to do is produce a sealed copy. Registering only makes it public record allowing you neighbor access to your survey.

I did mine to gain property that I know is mine and that the neighbors were using it and allowing others to access. I figured after the survey was done they would try to move the irons. They are "a" holes with a capital "A". Well I was present for the entire survey and recorded locations of stakes with video as well as my on method of staking  along with posting. I asked them what the recourse would be if the neighbor move an iron. I was told they would gladly come out and restake it (take a few minutes) and flip the bill to the neighbor if it was moved. If they didn't pay it would go to court and basically end up a lean on their property. 

Once the survey is sealed it's sealed period.


----------

