Why Get a Survey?

[Ryan D]

I am in the process of working out some details on my first property and am wondering if I should get a survey? The current owners have never had one. Is it important to get one before closing? If so, why? I would like to have one eventually but am unsure about the need for one right away. Anybody have any thoughts? Thanks!

[Henri Meli]

The last property I bought didn't have a survey. But there was a fence on one side of the property and the neighbor wasn't reachable. The fence was so close, it really looked as if it was built by the previous owner of my property. The previous owner had passed and his children who inherited the property didn't remember who built the fence. I had requested a survey, which showed that the fence wasn't really on my property. So, I sent letters to the neighbor asking him to confirm ownership of the fence.  And when he finally replied, he said he didn't remember building the fence either. A few months later, some weather condition occurred and the fence was down on my side of the property. My insurance guy happened to stop by and asked me to fix the fence, else there could some serious liability issues in case something were to happen. I reached out to the neighbor again (with the survey as proof), asking him to act. This time, I told that my next step would be to get lawyers involved. 

He finally fixed the fence on a week-end.