Each time I help a client purchase a piece of real estate, I always advise them to get a survey. Of course, no one likes to pay any more than they have to in fees leading up to a purchase, and surveys for the typical residential lot can cost several hundred dollars. Also, it has to be done as part of the front-end purchase process before closing.
If something turns up in the survey that makes the buyer want to bail out, he still has sunk the cost of the survey along with lender fees, title searches and such. However, the reasonable way to look at this is that surveys are a form of insurance. You pay for protection from a bad outcome. You hope that you don’t have to take advantage of the insurance any more than you want to use the benefits of your health insurance, but you’re glad you’ve got it.
Not everyone chooses to have the survey performed. Much depends on looking at the last time it was sold, if a survey was done then, and what’s around the property boundaries that might cause a problem. In any case, if you choose not to pay for a survey and take your chances, your Realtor, and probably your closing attorney, will have you sign a waiver that states that you don’t hold them liable for anything bad that comes up down the road as a result of you foregoing the survey. If you’re counting on your title insurance policy to cover you, better not. Those policies likely won’t cover any issues related to survey matters (fences, walls, setbacks, encroachments, etc.) if you did not have a survey. It’s kind of like they want to check the health of the prospective insured before issuing that health insurance- not an unreasonable approach.
So, be very careful about that decision. In a few cases, you may be OK without the survey, but I’m not going to count on that, and will ask you to sign the waiver- CYA. Call me if you don’t know what that means.
