1.  Copy of the seller’s deed with the boundary description.
This description may be found in an earlier deed, which is referenced in the seller’s.  The deed may include the price the seller paid for the property, or tax notations, such as deed stamps, that would allow you to calculate the price.

2.  Topographic map with boundary lines drawn on it, taken from seller’s deed description.
Use this map to locate boundaries on the ground and find your way around unfamiliar terrain.  If a recorded survey is available, make a copy for your files.

3.  Recorded documents, in addition to seller’s deed.
These would include easements the seller holds, easements that others hold that impact the seller’s property (such as right of way held by a neighbor that crosses seller’s land), sale or lease of minerals, utility easements, mortgage note, liens, estates, reservations of interests, releases, survey and so on.  Water contracts and leases should be recorded.  If the seller’s property is burdened with a conservation easement, make sure that you read and understand its restrictions, with which you will have to comply. All recorded documents should be found in the county courthouse where deeds are recorded.  Permits and licenses are not recorded documents. But both are publicly available.  If the seller’s property uses a septic system and a well, obtain the relevant documents/permits from the local sanitarian or health department. Read More »

Many sellers are stuck. They want to sell, but can’t because buyers are stuck too.

Why is everyone stuck? Fear and money.

Sellers are afraid to sell at prices lower than a year ago, and buyers are afraid to buy until the market bottoms out.

Sellers and buyers are afraid to lose money; lenders are afraid to lend it.

Everyone is scared of the future.

Might it be said that the main thing we have to fear is…ourselves.

Doing the same will not solve this mess. Doing different -- lenders lending, sellers selling, buyers buying -- will.

It’s important to understand that it was less subprime lending that produced this crisis, and more the burying of IED-type adjustable-rate mortgages under these borrowers. Lenders knew these ARMs would explode when the economy weakened or rates rose. Read more »