Your lender wants a survey. Read it before you sign.

Quick answer: Many lenders and title companies want a survey before they'll close, though it depends on your state, your loan and the title insurer. It shows where the house sits on the lot and what crosses the lines. It doesn't guarantee your title and it can't see everything. Get it early, read the drawing yourself, and take any surprise to a real estate attorney before closing.

Who it's really for

The lender wants to know the house it's financing sits on the land it's financing. The title company wants to know what to exclude from your policy. Neither one is protecting your relationship with the guy next door.

That's your job. The survey is the one document in the closing stack that shows, in a drawing, where your land ends. Most buyers skim it for the signature page and file it. Don't.

Laws and customs on surveys vary by state and county. Some states lean on attorneys at closing, some on title companies, and some require a survey for certain loans. Ask your lender and your closing agent which one applies to you.

What you're actually buying

"Survey" covers a few different products, and people mix them up.

• Boundary survey. A licensed surveyor researches the deeds, finds or sets corner markers, and draws the lot lines and everything on the lot. This is the real thing.
• Mortgage inspection or location survey. Cheaper and thinner. It shows roughly where the buildings sit. Usually it doesn't set corner pins and often carries a disclaimer saying it shouldn't be used to build a fence or a shed. Some lenders accept it. It tells you much less.
• ALTA/NSPS land title survey. A detailed standard mostly used on commercial property and larger parcels. A buyer of ordinary land might request one if the title company wants it.

Ask the surveyor which one you're getting and in writing. Then ask what it won't tell you.

Example only: a boundary survey on a typical town lot might run from several hundred dollars to a couple thousand. Rural acreage with woods or rough ground costs more. Get quotes. Prices swing by region and by how busy the surveyors are.

What it shows

Open the drawing and find these, in order:

1. The legal description. It should match your deed and the contract. If the lot number, acreage or street address differs, stop and ask why.
2. Boundary lines and dimensions. Each side should have a length and a bearing. Look for notes on whether corners were found or set.
3. Improvements. The house, garage, deck, driveway, pool, shed, fence. Each should be drawn with distances to the lot lines.
4. Easements. Recorded strips for utilities, drainage or access. You can't build on most of them, and the utility can come onto them.
5. Setbacks. The minimum distances from the line that your town's rules require. Some surveyors draw them, some don't.
6. Encroachments. Something of yours over the line, or something of theirs over yours. It's usually flagged in a note or a callout.
7. Road access. The lot should touch a public road or have a recorded way to one.
8. Flood zone. Some surveyors note the FEMA zone. It affects insurance and the lender's requirements.

Check the date and the seal too. A survey is a licensed surveyor's professional opinion as of one day. It's signed and stamped for a reason.

What it misses

This is where buyers get surprised.

A survey can't see an unrecorded deal. A neighbor who's used your gravel strip for twenty years may have a claim under your state's rules on prescriptive easements or adverse possession. The surveyor may note the worn path. The legal result is a question for an attorney.

It won't tell you what's underground. Septic lines, buried tanks and private utility runs show up only if someone marked them.

It doesn't confirm zoning compliance. That deck might be drawn perfectly and still sit inside the setback.

It doesn't cover mineral rights, water rights or timber agreements. Those live in the title work.

And it's frozen in time. A neighbor can put up a fence the week after the surveyor leaves.

Title insurance covers some of these risks and excludes others. Read the exceptions in your title commitment. In some states you can pay to remove the standard survey exception from an owner's policy if a current survey is provided. Ask your title agent or attorney whether that's available where you are.

Where the disputes come from

Almost every fight begins the same way. Somebody built a fence by eye, forty years ago, and everyone has treated it as the line since.

Example only, numbers made up for illustration: the survey shows the neighbor's fence sits three feet onto the lot you're buying, and your seller's shed sits half a foot over the other side.

Think about what that means in practice. The fence isn't the boundary. The pins are. But that three-foot strip may be maintained and used by the neighbor, and that matters. The shed may be on somebody else's land, and the neighbor on that side can ask you to move it.

Other common ones:

• A driveway that wanders over the line.
• A garage or addition built into an easement.
• A deed description that doesn't close, leaving a gap or overlap between two parcels.
• A tree line or retaining wall that everyone assumed was the edge.
• A neighbor who says "we've always done it this way." Maybe so. That's the claim an attorney has to evaluate.

What to do when the drawing is wrong

You have options. They run from cheap to expensive.

Talk to the seller first. A seller who knew about it and stayed quiet will cooperate. One who didn't know often will too.

Ask the seller to fix it. That might mean a boundary line agreement with the neighbor, recorded at the county. It might mean a written easement or license. It might mean moving the fence, or a lot line adjustment through the town.

Renegotiate. A credit or price cut can make sense if the problem is small and you're comfortable with it.

Get a title or attorney opinion. Don't guess whether it's small. A licensed real estate attorney can read the survey and the title commitment together and tell you what it means in your state.

Walk. If your contract has a survey or title contingency, a deadline probably controls when you can exit without losing earnest money. Read the dates. It's the same logic as the home inspection: the exit is cheap until the deadline passes, then it isn't.

Don't build a fence, plant a hedge or tell the neighbor "that's my side now" before an attorney weighs in. Rushing makes disputes worse. It doesn't settle them.

Timing

Surveyors get booked. In a busy season, scheduling can take weeks, and rain, snow or heavy brush slows the work. Order it as soon as your contract is signed, or ask the title company whether they've already done it. The twelve steps from preapproval to keys put it in the stretch between inspection and closing, and that's about right.

If the seller has an old survey, ask. Some title companies and lenders will accept it with a no-change affidavit from the seller. That depends on the lender, the insurer and the state. Even then, ask yourself whether the old drawing reflects the fence that's up today.

Before you close

• Compare the legal description on the survey, deed and title commitment.
• Walk the lot with the drawing in your hand and look for each corner marker.
• Find every item the surveyor flagged and photograph it.
• Read Schedule B of the title commitment for exceptions and easements.
• Ask your attorney or closing agent in plain words: "Does anything on this survey change what I'm buying?"
• If you plan to build, fence or add on, confirm the setbacks with the town yourself.

This is general education, not legal, tax or financial advice. Before you act, check with a licensed real estate attorney, your lender, your title agent and your agent.

A fence is somebody's opinion. A survey is a measurement. Pay for the measurement, and read it.