Despite the inherent importance of the legal description of a property, I have found that most real estate investors have no idea how to understand or interpret this bizarre sequence of letters and numbers. You simply copy and paste it from one document to another without understanding what it means, why it`s important, and why accuracy is crucial. As a general rule, the legal description comes into play with your act. In this blog, we`ll talk about everything you need to know, including the legal description of real estate. I get closer to jumping and buy a piece of land. I`ve been getting emails from Erika for a while now and I want to throw my name in the hat to eventually get «free» land that doesn`t seem as scary as the land you pay for. Right? Understanding the difference can help you dive into this part of land ownership and land purchase. While the legal description of a property can be controversial, the solution is often to hire another surveyor, on whom both parties agree, to conduct an additional version of a survey. A surveyor can describe the land by dividing the sections into fractions, usually starting with quarter sections. Legal descriptions according to the S-T-R (Section-Township-Range) system must be read backwards. If you do, you will receive the following information: REtipster does not provide legal advice. The information in this article can be affected by many unique variables. Always consult a qualified legal advisor before taking any action.
However, there are some interesting exceptions. Texas, once an independent country, is mainly divided into «surveys» based on former Spanish land allocations. In the Lone Star State, a legal description begins at a certain point of elevation (the starting point or POB) and runs from there as a «mixed-race and boundary» description. Here`s an example of what a legal description of a property can look like when you`re looking for yours. If the property is not subject to a subdivision area, and especially if it has an irregular shape, more complex descriptions will be posted, allowing a surveyor to measure and mark the boundaries of the property. If you are trying to describe your country in section terms, you can do so by taking the section number (e.g. section #20) and adding it to the beginning of the municipality as section 20, municipality 2 south, zone 2 east (S20, T2S-R2E). The title officer and surveyor will detect any legal description issues and clear the cloud on the title prior to closing. As one of the most important pieces of information involved in real estate transactions, legal descriptions are important to understand before buying a property.
Avoid using the description of property tax documents, which is often short and insufficient when it comes to legally describing the property. Here you will find an overview of the development, called «Flat». This shows blocks and lots. A large piece of land would be called a block. The description may also refer to the name of the subdivision or development. The platform is often attached to the deed, but otherwise it is referenced in the legal description on the deed and can be found in the clerk`s office of the district court. The legal description (and in some cases the municipal maps to which it refers) allows us to determine the size, shape, boundaries and location of a parcel. That`s why legal descriptions are required on every deed, and that`s why surveyors need this information to do their job. If you are struggling, don`t be afraid to look for an experienced eye in order to get all the information you need from the description. For this reason, 40 acres is a common size of land for land in the United States – a strip of land has 16 blocks of 40 acres of land. This is a simple description of Metes and Bounds. They can be much more complex in irregularly shaped plots.
Because a bad legal description means you may not get the right property. Such descriptions can get quite complicated, especially if a property crosses a municipal section or boundary. Look for the section of the document that says «described as.» In this section of the document, the country described refers to a specific part of a section. An example is «Northeast Southeast (NESE)». Letter abbreviations are used for clarity in definitions, where N stands for north, S for south, E for east, and W for west. These parts of sections are called aliquot parts. If that`s wrong, then you`re not really legally the owner of what you think you`re doing. It uses landmarks and distances to measure the perimeter of the property described in the legal description and is based on the physical characteristics of its geography as well as directions and distances.
The legal description is a description of a property that can sufficiently identify it for legal purposes. In this section, we will try to decipher how to read the legal description of the property using the grid system adopted by the United States in 1785. To transfer ownership of immovable property, the deed must contain a clear legal description of the property that identifies it. In order to have a valid mortgage on a property, the mortgage must also contain this legal description. Read the actual description of the document. If the description uses townships and then refers to a «property», it is a government lot. Because the land is round, each section cannot measure the entire 640 hectares. Correction sections are included. Aliquot parts are measured in exact acres and can be odd numbers rather than standard divisions of 640. This explains the curvature and properly maintains the PLSS system. This clarifies the boundaries of the plot and makes it ideal for undeveloped land in rural areas. Find the specific batch in the corresponding block on the platform.
Shade this plot as it is the property in the description. A professional surveyor creates legal descriptions of real estate. You need the legal description for all purchase contracts, deeds and mortgages. Each community is divided into 36 numbered sections measuring one mile on each side. Therefore, you can see a description of the property that includes a reference to the municipality and section, such as: Surveys for the property and block often depend on the age of the property and whether the corners and other attractions are still there. Your deed should have an accurate legal description of your property, so if you are looking for the legal description after having previously owned land, then this is the best place to search. We have identified a specific plot of land of 640 hectares. If you liked this and are hungry for more land boards, check out E.B.`s book. Farmer on Landflipping, his blog and his full online course (be sure to use the discount code «RETIPSTER» at checkout to save quickly).
Legal descriptions are essential to the process of buying land, so it`s just as important to know how to read the legal description of a property. The above information is intended to help you understand legal property descriptions. However, when buying or selling real estate, it is usually not necessary to fully understand the details of property descriptions. It is important that the deed, mortgage or other property document contains an accurate description of the property. When you start reading legal descriptions, you will notice that there are different types of legal descriptions. OR: It can describe a piece of land by dividing the section into fractions. To put it simply, the legal description of a property is the definition of the property that is bought and sold. It is more restrictive than the address and parcel number, and if this information is incorrectly indicated on a deed, the wrong ownership will be transferred.
The Metes and Bounds description has a starting point and a starting point. When creating a legal description, you must use the exact legal description that was on the last deed of ownership. Your property description can also include a block and parcel number that refers to a specific developed area of the city, town, or housing project. If you carefully read the legal description in your document and compare it with the legal description in a previous document, you can ensure that your document contains the corresponding legal description. If the legal description was copied and pasted from an outdated survey, it`s worth hiring a surveyor who can update this information for you. Note: Some legal descriptions are VERY complicated and require an experienced eye to fully «decipher» the information. This article won`t make you an expert overnight, but I think you`ll see how useful it is to have an introduction that clarifies a rather confusing topic. Metes and bounds: This type of legal description dates back hundreds of years.
A legal description is a description of real property by a government survey, Métis and boundary survey, or by lot numbers of a registered platform. Have the legal description of your property verified by a survey so that everything is aligned and ready to use. Anyway, I didn`t tell you all these things just to turn your head. Knowledge of the township section`s allocation system comes in handy when we search for land turnaround offers in the assessor`s office, or even correctly identify the 40-acre Old Man Brown property that his son advertises cheaply on Facebook (but doesn`t have a platform for it). For a long time, I have planned to write a detailed blog post in which I explain the basics of how legal descriptions work and why they are important. However, earlier this year, I came across this book and noticed a section that gave a great introduction to the topic. Since this book made it so accurate, I invited the author to share this section of his book here on the REtipster blog.