Grant Deed - Land Description

cholland · January 14, 2008, 02:48:17 AM

My family has owned nearly 20 Ac in California for over 30 years. Its a nice piece of land that consists of two parcels. Hopefully, as this project progresses I will be posting in the builders forum. But for now I have a question about using a grant deed to transfer land title. Maybe someone with a little experience has some pointers.

The smaller parcel (1.2 Ac) is "developed" in that it has access, power, a well (with rusty plumbing), and an un-livable trailer with additions. The septic is failed and totally out of code. The plan is to tear out the trailer, get permits for septic and build a nice little home.

My parents will give me the parcel, so all I need to do is file a grant deed with the recorders office. This mainly consists of a legal description of the property. Which is on the previous deed. Heres where it gets tricky.

The previous deed is from the early 70's... way before the recent housing development. It appears to rely on a survey that maybe older than that. There is an old parcel map but its out of date. To further complicate things in the late 80s, as the neighbors split and developed their property a line adjustment was required to avoid an existing structure.

I have a description from the title company that describes the parcel and then states "except for", and then describes the line adjustment.

I also have parcel maps from most of the surrounding land as it was developed, surveyed, split, new parcel maps filed, etc. I have noticed that some of the adjoining parcels have slightly different values for some of the lines. For example it might be 1.3 feet shorter, or the compass bearing may be a minute/second different.

My question: is this patched together legal description adequate for a grant deed? Or do I need a surveyor to come and re-describe the boundaries?(will I need one anyway for a site plan?) They will want several hundred dollars for what seems to be a simple task. I am comfortable with the existing description being correct, I can locate all but one of the property markers.

glenn kangiser · January 14, 2008, 03:08:17 AM

Welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure on this. Possibly some of the others will know. Possibly desdawg. Can you find the last marker off of the other two or three? The other consideration will be setbacks. If you are far enough from the lines that they are not in question, that may not be a problem.

What area are you in. We are near Yosemite.

January 14, 2008, 01:32:42 PM

While the you may find that the filling office will take the information you currently have to protect your property I would highly suggest getting it surveyed. We just bought a 65 acre tract and found that there had been some encroachment on the property over the years. It was not all that much but since we were buying the property it affected the price. There are some odd land laws out there that you can loose land pretty easy by people putting up a fence that is on your property for X years then claiming it is theirs.

If it was me I would invest in the survey it will help with any later property disputes that always seem to arise. While it is not always cheap to do it is better to find out now than get forced into doing it later when someone disagrees with your line.

Brian

cbc58 · January 14, 2008, 07:57:34 PM

you could also see if any of the neighbors had their property surveyed recently.... or get that lot line adjustment survey...

cholland · January 15, 2008, 12:07:08 AM

Glenn your a little south of me I believe. I'm near Sonora, more towards Columbia. Part of Table Mountain if you know the area. Lots of poison oak. Some old mine shafts on the property.

I'm not too concerned about encroachment.
I do have the survey from the west side. Its the line adjustment. It was an even trade for .271 ac farther back. All of those markers are visible... I've recently cleared the brush, etc and working on putting up a t-post field fence to keep the dog in.
South side is common boundary with parents other parcel. There never were any markers to separate the two pieces.
West side.. I cant quite find those markers anymore but the fence constructed by the neighbor about 12 years ago for his goats is pretty much right on the line. I remember seeing the pins years ago, right along the fence but the brush has grown in and the duff on the ground is about 6 inches deep in that area. I have this survey as well.
North side is the driveway easement for several other parcels up the road.... that one is well defined. But this is also the line I dont really have a survey for. Even though the easement is mentioned in the other surveys, the line is never measured. Possibly because one of the points is actually in the middle of the paved county road?

It sounds like an easy thing to do... put the legal description together. But, when I pull out the surveys and deeds and try to write it down, it gets confusing really quick.

Just hoping someone has experience with this and could give me a push in the right direction.

January 22, 2008, 11:17:46 AM

Same table mountain Rawhide Rd is on?

I used to fly into Columbia and used Rawhide when I was working Placerville.

Possibly if the line area is cleared, you could find someone with a metal detector to find the stakes. I have 2 if necessary. Not that far away. Maybe 60 miles and a great place to visit.

Possibly you could put the info you have together and drop by the county recorders office and ask them if it is enough to record it or a clue of what to do.

The mines sound interesting - I've been doing a bit of prospecting. Good area.

cholland · January 23, 2008, 02:08:37 AM

Its not so much where the pins are as the actual description on paper. I'll work on it and see what the recorders office says.

Yup, its that same Table Mountain. I'm strait off the runway to the south about 1 mile. The county has a couple of acres to my west where there is another light beacon tower (used for IFR). If you've flown in and out of there you've probably gone right over the top of me.

glenn kangiser · January 23, 2008, 02:16:06 AM

Let us know what you get worked out. Someone at a title company may be able to help - I'm not sure. We have a great one here. He's been real helpful on getting my comprehensive search done.

Probably passed over your place many times. Columbia was my first flight with (family) passengers. 1991