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Metes and Bounds Property Descriptions

Metes and Bounds is a commonly used method of boundary surveying. Land titles, which are transferred by written documents called deeds, often include a metes (to measure, or assign by measure) and bounds (boundary lines or property limits) property description. Definition of metes and bounds http://bit.ly/3ZE5fy.

The descriptions have a point of beginning (POB), such as a stake, fence post, road intersection, or a natural feature such as a tree. The length and bearing of consecutive lines from the POB are given. Values that were historically represented in chains, poles and rods are now in terms of feet and decimals, and even metric units.

A precedence has been set in order to take a written description and find its location and physical appearance on the earth. In other words, it defines an order when re-establishing an old survey using a metes and bounds description. The following list indicates the order in which distances, directions or words are weighted when conducting the survey (in order to avoid conflict):

• Marks or monuments (almost anything can be called for as a monument in place)
• Calls for boundaries of adjoining tracts
• Courses and distances shown in the original notes or plat

If numbers are both spelled out and given as figures, words take priority unless other proof is available. The assumption is that it is more likely that someone would incorrectly transpose digits rather than misspell numbers.

The next post will be on the description of land deeds and the information they should contain.

Section, Township and Range System

For an excellent tutorial on PLSS descriptions using the section, township and range system, visit the Wisconsin DNR http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/.

The system of Section, Township and Range can be described by the rules of survey from the 1973 Manual of Surveying Instruction. You can review the full manual here: http://bit.ly/3clLxu.

The public lands shall be divided by north and south lines run according to the true meridian, and by others crossing them at right angles, so as to form townships six miles square.

The corners of the townships must be marked with progressive numbers from the beginning; each distance of a mile between such corners much be also distinctly marked with marks different from those of the corners.

The township shall be subdivided into sections, containing as nearly as may be, six hundred and forty acres each, by running parallel lines through the same from east to west and from south to north at the distance of one mile from each other (originally at the end of every two miles, but amended in 1800), and marking corners at the distance of each half mile. The sections shall be numbered, respectively, beginning with the number one in the northeast section, and proceeding west and east alternately through the township with progressive numbers until the thirty-six be completed.

Introduction to Land Survey Systems

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS http://bit.ly/114N1y) is a legal land reference set up to ease the inventory and transfer of property.  The original PSS surveys in Wisconsin were conducted over 100 years ago. The task of present-day land surveyors includes the retracing of the original lines, and further subdividing sections. Today almost all land transactions in the 30 western-most states are described with the section, township, and range system http://bit.ly/JVZYC.

The position of a PLSS corner, a corner of a township or a comer of one it’s 36 sections, is defined by the original monument and whether or not its placement was mathematically correct.  Many early monuments were made of wood, stone or other natural materials susceptible to decay and destruction.

Since many monuments have been lost or destroyed over the years, retracement surveys are conducted to reestablish previously surveyed boundary lines. New sturdy monuments are place where the old monuments were located, at the specified corners.

PLSS corner remonumentation efforts have stepped up in recent years as the demand for accurate cadastral maps has increased with the implementation of Wisconsin’s’ land records modernization activities. The integration of the PLSS reference system with the National Spatial Reference System, will involve re-establishing these corners and relating them to the mathematical framework of the NSRS http://bit.ly/2m10iY .

Further information about the Wisconsin Land Information Programs on initiative on land records modernization can be found the WLIP’s homepage, maintained by the Wisconsin Land Information Board http://www.wlia.org .

Ranking Scale for Properties to View

Rank the neighborhood

As you get close to the property start noting the area and rank it. This is subjective ranking but you want to look for boarded up houses, burned out houses, dirty streets, yards that are not maintained, houses that are not maintained. These are going to be your value so you determine what is important, but you want a neighborhood ranking.

Rank the structure

When you get to the property, rank the structure if there is one! Same 1 to 5 ranking, based on condition not esthetics.

Note any problems

Sagging porches, a blue tarp on the roof that is not a decorative item, run down, unoccupied, (big warning sign). Write these things down in your log.

Note any plus items

Well maintained, new paint etc.

Number your photos

Write down the photo number and some things you see in the picture so you have a secondary check in case the numbers get screwed up.  Example: White house, brown trim, large tree left side, blue car.

When you get home you will want to “marry” your photos to your list. You can even paste the photos into your spreadsheet; make sure that you put the correct photo with the correct property!

Look at the property

We believe that it is critical that you look at each property you are considering. This is an absolute in a deed sale and we feel it is an absolute in a lien sale also. The nicest property on paper and pictures could be a burned out crack house in reality. People will tell you that 95% of tax liens redeem, what they don’t tell you are that about ½ of those that don’t redeem are never taken to deed. The reason they aren’t taken to deed is that they shouldn’t have been bought in the first place.

Mapping the property. We advise you get a mapping program so you can map the properties before you go out to inspect them. You can get good mapping software for under $100.00 and it will save you hours in the field. The one thing to remember when mapping is that you will sometimes find the same address exists in two different places in the taxing jurisdiction. You can resolve these by calling the assessor’s office or checking by zip code or parcel number so you make sure you are looking at the correct property.

We suggest you map everything before you get in the car. Take time before hand to study your maps so you have a feel about how you are going to do the job. This will save you a lot of wasted time. We have had over 200 field workers do property inspections for us and I can tell you those who took an hour or so to layout their plan were much more effective than those who didn’t.

How many can you look at in a day? You need some idea so you know how much time to allow. My best people consistently did more than 120 a day. The record was 335 in one day. Since you are new to it, plan on 50 to 70 a day. If you can get someone to ride with you, you can increase that number by 20 percent.

Get a digital camera if you do not have one. You don’t need an expensive one and they will pay for themselves in about three sales. You want pictures because you are not going to remember the properties if there are more then about 10.

What are you looking for? We use an inspection form that was adopted by a number of the institutional buyers. It had several things you will want to note. Use a scale from 1 to 5 ranking scale, 1 being worst and 5 being the best.

See next post for rankings

Due Diligence

We were talking about due diligence and the list you should prepare to compare the properties you might want to bid on.

In the last post we discussed the first key things to obtain see post LINK. In this post we will discuss the last 5 items you will want to obtain.

Assessed value for land: This is the value the assessor has placed on the property. Please be aware that this value may be arrived through some sort of formula. You need to find out from the assessor how the number is arrived at. Most stares require this number to have some relationship to market value, but not all do. This is critical to know. If the value has some relationship to market value and you have the formula, you can arrive at a hypothetical market value. This will seldom correlate very accurately to the true market value, but it should give you a basis for comparative value between two properties. Assessed values on some lists but not on most.

Assessed value for improvements: This is the value the assessor has placed on the improvements (usually buildings) on the property. Again, you need to know the formula used and want to arrive at a hypothetical market value. Assessed values are on some list but again not on most.

Annual tax payment: This is what the property tax for the current year are supposed to be. This is usually not on the published list.

Tax owed and/or minimum bid: This is the amount that the taxing authority wants to receive (at a minimum) for the lien and/or deed. Depending on the method of auction this may be the total amount you will have to pay or the starting bid. This is usually on the published list.

The sale sequence number: Most sales publish their list in the order they will be sold, but some do not. You must find out from the taxing jurisdiction what order the properties will be sold in and then, if the taxing jurisdiction has not assigned a sequence number, you should assign a sequence number to each parcel so you can keep them in auction order.

These nine items that we covered you will want on your list before you start to determine what further work you want to do. Why we want them will become clearer in the next few posts.

If you have any questions please post them here or join us for a free workshop. Click on the button to the left for the next workshop.

Due Diligence

The most important aspect of your preparation for the purchase of tax liens and/or tax deeds is the process of due diligence. What is due diligence? Due diligence is the research you do to determine what you will buy and how much you are willing to pay for it. What is the process?

The List

First thing you have to do is get the list of properties that are for sale. Ideally, you get this list in some form of computer readable media so you can do some analysis of the list. If you don’t get the list in the form a computer file you should enter the list yourself.

There are a number of things you will want to enter into your list. Not all of these may be published by the taxing authority, so you may have to spend time in the courthouse toe get some of the information. 

 The parcel identification number. This is a number, called by different names in different jurisdictions (folio number, account number, tax id number, block/lot etc) that the taxing jurisdiction uses to identify the property. It is critical that you get this number if at all possible. Some jurisdictions do not publish these numbers and you have to get them from the assessor’s office or the treasures’ office.

The owners name: You want to try and see how much real estate the owner has in the jurisdiction If it turns out they own 20 properties and this is the one that is delinquent – that is a red flag.

The property address: Also know as the situs address – this is where the property can be located. You want to make sure the address you get is the situs address and not the mailing address. Quite often you will find the mailing address has been entered as the situs address in error this may be because the property is vacant land and has no assigned address or it may be the nearest address the property. Some counties in Indian to this as an example).

The property type and or land use code: This is either a numeric code or an acronym assigned by the taxing jurisdiction to show what the land is used for or authorized to be used for. Examples would be: SFR for single family residential. Comm for commercial, Ind for industrial, Vac for vacant, and Agri for agricultural. These are just illustrations; some jurisdictions have hundreds of land use codes that can tell you a great deal about the property. For example, one county in Arizona has a code for apartments with 6 to 12 rentable units, among 200 others. You wan tot know what the land is currently used for and the land use code will tell you this. Property type and land use code are usually not on the published list.

We will continue the list on the next post… Get your excel spreadsheets ready.