Is there any way to find out the size/dimensions of my property w/o a surveyor? (Manassas: house, buying)

[Liam O]

So I am just now buying my first property ever, in Manassas Park, and I have a large backyard that is wooded. It's a .6 acre lot and I'd really love to get a better idea of how far back into the woods my parcel goes before I get into my neighbor's yard.

I know I could hire a surveyor for this for a couple hundred dollars, but isn't there somewhere I should be able to just look up, for instance, how far back from the street my lot should go? So that I could at least get a rough idea by myself.

Is there some kind of city assessor's office or something, surely there is somewhere I can look this up myself?

[spleuchan]

They should have given you a drawing of your property at closing when you bought the house. For a very rough estimate, you can go to a website like www.redfin.com and find a house near yours. Click on it and at the bottom is a map showing the property and nearby properties, then move the map to your house and it will show your lot. You might also want to check the Manassas Park assessor's website.

[Carlingtonian]

Yup, should be a plat you got at settlement if not before. Also, your county/city should have a real-estate deed book on file with all the properties, going back decades.

[Liam O]

I'm not actually closing until Friday, but yeah I do have some... well, blueprints? Sketches, I guess. And I've seen what I can on redfin/google maps/etc.

I guess what I'm hoping for really was distances. I don't know if maybe they'll include that in the closing? I suppose I can contact Manassas Park directly.

Thanks for your replies.

[car54]

You should get a copy of the survey at closing. It will have measurements and whether or not boundary markers were found.

[jcnycarch]

I can tell you that the survey plate that they give you might not be accurate. We closed on a house last fall and received the drawing. I also asked for the digital computer files (CAD) because I'm an architect. When I brought it up in the software and then cross referenced the dimensions with my own field measured numbers, they didn't match up. I would suspect that in a lot of cases, the plate is something put together with difference existing materials such as historical drawings and not by an actual survey. That actually makes sense because when I asked if this was going to be a physical survey, the response was if I wanted to pay more, I can have a physical survey w/ stakes etc.

Plus, the scale of those plates are so small that it would be difficult for you to scale it accurately. They are mostly for show.

If you want accuracy, hire a surveyor. If you want approximation, the plate is fine. If you have a large plot of land, you can always build the fence within a safe distance from the perceived property line (assuming you dont have a neighbors fence to go off of).

[saganista]

As Carlingtonian implies, unless this is a virtually new property, markers were almost certainly set at some point in the past. Unfortunately, wooden stakes have often been used and these are not at all durable. Stone markers with a center point do exist however and are worth tramping around looking for. They are also worth putting down if you don't find any. A survey will cost an extra few hundred dollars and stone markers perhaps a couple hundred more. With any luck, the new survey will find an old stone marker that tramping around didn't, and you won't have to pay for it anyway. :-) But knowing once and for all where your property actually is and ends will be worth the cost even if you do have to pay for the markers.

[tysonsengineer]

Yes, property information in public.

1) First find out what your parcel number is from PWC GIS Mapper
http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dep...%20Mapper.aspx

From there, take your tax number for your property and do a search for that on their website, and you should be able to find your subdivision plan that defines your property. Within that document will be survey and civil site plans that define the lengths of your property and show all utility easements as well.

Won't cost you a buck. A survey is only required when you need a boundary verification document created (ie if you have a massive property which you plan to rezone, then you need a boundary survey as the first step in order to confirm that your project will fall within your legal property limits). For a home owner, all that information has long since been created as legal and public information

Enjoy

[saganista]

That's all great, but what do you do out in the back yard? Where do you start measuring the precise distances from. In what exact direction away from that point do you go? Unless the OP were himself a surveyor, he would have no way of finding the actual real locations that correspond to the ones identified on the plat. And if the OP were a surveyor, I doubt he'd have started this thread to begin with.

[tysonsengineer]

The survey plat shows you where to measure from, and they do it in a way where a homeowner can do it for himself. They typical provide two dimensions from one corner of the building. One that goes to the rear of the lot, and one that goes to the side of the lot. On that document I pointed to, you should see that for your lot. From there you can take a tape measure to it. (If your lot is very deep, the you can do a tape measure, mark, then tape measure. The point is that the dimensions are done perpendicular so you should be able to do it from sight. Now if you are trying to measure it to within 3 inches, then I would say theres no guarantee so get a surveyor.

Also if you are planning on putting in a fence, please note that I believe PWC now requires a permit verification of boundary line for any new boarded fence (it might only apply to certain types of fences). My suggestion if you are planning to build a fence, measure it out as I said, then step it back 2 feet to be safe.

Btw which subdivision are you in? I wonder if I did the plans (which would make it easy for me to answer this question :P )