What Every Buyer and Seller in Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Colleyville, North Richland Hills, Bedford, Hurst, Euless, Watauga, and Haltom City Needs to Know About the Property Survey
By Mark Hewitt · Hewitt Group at Real Broker, LLC
The property survey is the most specifically misunderstood document in the Texas residential real estate transaction — the licensed surveyor's professional determination of the property's boundaries, the easements, the encroachments, and the improvements' locations whose specific findings most directly inform the title insurance's coverage, the lender's security interest, and the buyer's understanding of exactly what is being purchased. For buyers and sellers throughout the Hewitt Group's eleven-city service area whose north Texas transactions most directly require the survey's specific information to complete the title insurance issuance and the lender's financing, understanding exactly what the survey is, what the different survey types are, what the survey reveals, how to read the survey, and what the specific north Texas survey requirements most directly determine is the foundational education whose completeness most directly enables the most informed transaction participation.
This guide provides the complete property survey education for the north Texas buyer and seller — what the survey is and what it is not, the specific survey types available in Texas, what the survey most directly reveals about the property, how to read the survey's key elements, and what the specific survey-related issues most commonly encountered in the north Texas market most directly require. This content is for educational purposes and does not constitute legal or professional advice.
What a Property Survey Is
The property survey — the licensed land surveyor's professional measurement and mapping of the property whose specific findings most directly establish the boundary locations, the easement positions, and the improvement locations — is the document whose specific information most directly supports the title company's title insurance issuance and the lender's collateral assessment.
The survey's specific legal authority: the licensed state land surveyor's professional license whose Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying regulation most directly confirms the professional qualification and the accountability standard whose application to the survey's preparation most specifically establishes the document's legal reliability.
The Survey Types in Texas
The specific survey types available in the Texas residential transaction reflect the different levels of information whose production most directly serves the different transaction requirements.
The Boundary Survey
The boundary survey — the most comprehensive survey type whose specific determination of the exact boundary locations, the corner monuments, and the boundary line dimensions most directly produces the most complete property boundary picture — is the survey type whose preparation most specifically requires the field work whose licensed surveyor's physical measurement of the boundary most directly confirms the specific locations.
The Improvement Survey Plat (ISP)
The Improvement Survey Plat — the survey type most commonly required in the Texas residential transaction whose specific mapping of the property's boundaries, the improvements' locations, and the easements most directly provides the title company and the lender with the information whose analysis most specifically determines the title insurance's coverage — is the standard residential survey whose $400 to $700 cost most directly reflects the licensed surveyor's field work and the plat's preparation.
The ISP's specific contents:
The boundary lines and dimensions whose specific measurements most directly establish the property's footprint.
The improvements' locations — the house, the garage, the fence, the pool, and the other structures whose specific distances from the boundary lines most directly confirm the setback compliance.
The easements — the utility easements, the drainage easements, and the access easements whose specific locations most directly affect the buyer's use of the property and the lender's collateral assessment.
The encroachments — the neighbor's fence, the neighbor's structure, or the subject property's improvement whose extension across the boundary line most directly creates the title issue whose resolution most specifically requires the parties' attention.
The Existing Survey
The existing survey — the prior survey whose reuse most directly avoids the new survey's cost — is the survey option whose acceptance by the title company most specifically requires the review whose confirmation that the existing survey is current, accurate, and acceptable for the title insurance issuance.
The existing survey's acceptability requirements: the survey's date whose recency most specifically determines the acceptability — the survey from within the past 2 to 5 years whose reflection of the current improvements and the current boundary information most directly satisfies the title company's requirements. The older survey whose date precedes the significant improvements, the fence installation, or the easement recording most specifically may not reflect the current property conditions whose accurate representation the title insurance requires.
What the Survey Reveals: The Most Important Findings
The survey's specific findings whose significance most directly affects the transaction include the encroachments, the easements, and the setback compliance.
Encroachments
The encroachment — the improvement whose location extends across the property's boundary line most directly creates the title issue whose resolution most specifically affects the property's value and the title insurance's coverage. The most common north Texas residential encroachments:
The fence encroachment: the neighbor's fence whose installation along the incorrect boundary line most directly creates the encroachment that most commonly requires the survey to identify and the parties to resolve.
The structure encroachment: the garage, the shed, or the addition whose construction extends across the property line most directly creates the most significant encroachment whose resolution most specifically requires the survey's identification and the legal resolution.
The driveway encroachment: the concrete driveway whose extension onto the neighboring property most directly creates the minor encroachment whose resolution most commonly reflects the neighborly agreement.
Easements
The easement — the specific right whose grant to another party most directly allows the use of the property for the specified purpose — is the survey finding whose identification most specifically affects the buyer's use of the property and the lender's collateral assessment.
The most common easements in the north Texas residential survey:
The utility easement: the underground utility easement whose location along the property's perimeter most directly limits the improvements whose installation above the easement most specifically requires the utility company's approval.
The drainage easement: the drainage easement whose location reflects the engineered drainage pattern most directly limits the improvements and the landscaping whose obstruction of the drainage flow most specifically violates the easement's terms.
The access easement: the shared driveway or the access path whose easement most directly grants the neighboring property the access right across the subject property most specifically affects the property's privacy and the buyer's use.
The Setback Compliance
The setback compliance — the specific confirmation that every improvement is located within the required setback distances from the property lines whose violation most directly creates the building code and the zoning non-compliance — is the survey finding whose identification of the non-compliance most directly affects the property's insurability and the buyer's use.
The front setback, the side setback, and the rear setback whose specific distances most directly reflect the municipal zoning ordinance's requirements are the setback dimensions whose confirmation through the survey most specifically enables the title company's non-compliance identification.
How to Read the Survey
The survey reading — the specific interpretation of the plat's symbols, measurements, and notations most directly enables the buyer's most informed review of the specific findings — is the practical skill whose application most specifically prevents the survey's most commonly misinterpreted elements.
The north arrow: the survey's north arrow whose orientation most directly establishes the directional reference for every measurement and location shown on the plat.
The scale bar: the survey's scale bar whose specific ratio most directly enables the visual distance estimation whose application to the improvement locations most specifically confirms the setback distances.
The bearing and distance calls: the boundary line's specific direction (the bearing) and the specific length (the distance) whose combination most directly establishes the legal boundary description whose comparison to the deed's legal description most specifically confirms the accuracy.
The monument symbols: the survey's specific symbols whose indication of the found corners (the existing monuments confirmed by the surveyor) and the set corners (the new monuments placed by the surveyor) most directly confirms the boundary corners' physical locations.
The Survey in the TREC Contract
The TREC contract's Paragraph 6(B) — the survey provision whose specific election most directly determines whether the existing survey or the new survey is required — is the contract term whose negotiation most directly affects the survey cost's allocation between the buyer and the seller.
The buyer's election options: the election of the existing survey whose acceptance by the title company most specifically avoids the new survey's cost, or the election of the new survey whose specific preparation requirement most directly reflects the title company's assessment of the existing survey's adequacy.
The survey cost allocation: the TREC contract's specific provision most directly allocates the survey cost based on which party ordered the survey — the seller who provides the acceptable existing survey most specifically avoids the new survey cost, while the seller whose existing survey is unacceptable most directly bears the new survey's cost if the contract so provides.
Working with Mark Hewitt and the Hewitt Group on the Survey
The Hewitt Group provides every north Texas buyer and seller with the complete survey education, the licensed surveyor referrals, and the transaction management that the most specifically informed survey participation requires. Contact us today for your survey consultation.
