What is the property that is being sold, and how do you know?

Both sellers and buyers need to understand what is being sold.

When a seller lists property with a broker or advertises as a FSBO, he should establish both the nature of his ownership and its extent.

Real-estate law conceptualizes property as a bundle of rights. A seller may be selling all his rights in a property or just some, with or without limitation in either case.

One or more rights can be severed–sold, leased or given away. A common severance involves separating subsurface minerals from the surface. In some states, where surface is owned by one party and subsurface by another the situation is referred to as a “split estate.” I’ve evaluated properties where ownership of timber, water and wind have been separated from the bundle of surface rights being sold.

The sale, lease or donation of rights in property should be recorded. Most mineral sales and leases are, but I’ve found sales of timber rights not recorded and not disclosed.

A complete bundle of rights in property is referred to as “fee simple absolute.” The shorthand is, property “owned in fee.” Where subsurface rights have been severed from surface rights, that property is not being sold in fee. Read more

Why you should survey before you sell

Among the countless problems that can occur during the “sale pending” period of a land transaction, a survey is at the top of the list. Along with title issues, survey problems adversely impact more land closings than anything else. In this article, we will explain surveys and their significance to landowners, particularly those making preparations to sell. Let’s start with a little insight into the practice of land surveying from a historical perspective and then compare that with modern methods utilized today.

Surveying is the art and science of making measurements to locate points on, above or beneath the earth’s surface. The surveyor cannot by his own actions establish new boundary lines. However, he can use his experience and knowledge to formulate an opinion concerning the location of a boundary line in question. The actual survey is the measure of an area, calculated in acres in the U.S. One acre is 43,560 square feet.  Why such an odd number? Acres are based on “chains” or rather 66 ft. increments. An acre is exactly 66 feet x 660 feet or 1 chain x 10 chains. Another measurement based on chains is the mile which is 5,280 feet or 80 chains. A more common way to envision a one acre area is that it covers approximately 208ft. X 208 ft. A typical subdivision lot of 100′ of frontage x 200 feet of depth is about 46 hundredths of an acre. Read more