As property owners we agree to an extensive
list of laws and rights to our land. I am not claiming to have comprehensive
knowledge of the complexities accompanying property law theory, but I do think
the everyday property owner should know a thing or two about it.
Lets first start of discussing legal descriptions.
Legal descriptions are a formal outline of the exact measurements that comprise
a piece of property. There are three general ways legal descriptions are made
up.
-Metes-and-bounds
-Rectangular survey system
-References to recorded plats
The metes-and-bounds method is the original
way to achieve a legal description. In this the metes refer to the distances
used in the description and the bounds make up the directions of the boundaries
that enclose a piece of land.
This illustration gives a simple outline of
the different methods used for comprising legal descriptions:
As property owners it is our responsibility
to take the initiative to inform ourselves about our property and the rights it
comes with. In this article Fred Steingold gives ten rules of thumb to follow
to avoid the pitfalls many investors fall into. Hopefully this will help fill
the gaps
The key take away from this article is DON’T
ASSUME! It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking the land comes with
the parking lot, or the driveway, but that is not always the case. Make sure
you understand exactly what you’re receiving when making these large purchases.
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