Real estate legal descriptions - platted parcels versus metes and bounds land

Title issues

This video discusses how property is legally described, highlighting the difference between lot and block descriptions and metes and bounds descriptions. Lot and block descriptions are simple and commonly used in subdivisions, while metes and bounds descriptions are more complex and used in rural areas. The latter involves mapping out a property's shape and size by identifying its starting point, distance, and direction. The legal descriptions, particularly the metes and bounds, can be challenging, requiring accurate matching of old and new deeds, survey, and tax legal descriptions. Surveys can be valuable in identifying small issues that can affect property descriptions.

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Video Transcript

Let's talk for a minute how property is legally described.

So, when I think of my house most people connect that with the address, right? I live at such and such address. But when we're looking at ensuring a parcel, we ensure legal descriptions.

Right and those could be plats, metes and bounds. Walk us through the kind of the nuances between both.

Well the lot and block is the simplest one, right? If you live in a subdivision, that has lots right. It's a plat. For example, I'm in a chalet. I'm in lot 54 of Chalet Estates. Pretty simple.

Yeah, but when you start getting into the more rural areas, that's where you get into what we call metes and bounds descriptions. These are the descriptions that start at a particular point and go a certain distance. They go 89 degrees so many minutes, so many seconds west and then so many that where then we go north and we're basically trying to map out what that looks like. I always describe it as when people are looking at a title, it's like those posters that if you stare long enough at them you see the whale. I've never been able to see the whale, but our folks, our title examiners can see from the description basically the shape of the property what it's all going to look like and those legal descriptions. The metes and bounds. Those are the most challenging because we got to make sure that everything is correct, that the old deed matches the new deed, that matches the survey and matches the tax legal description. So, all those things have to match pretty easy, and a lot and block are a little more challenging than the metes and bounds, and the fact that it's what we call ties out right? We're walking through this we end up at the point of beginning once we're done with the legal description.

Exactly, because every once in a while you might have a couple degrees off and that can go a long ways to miss describing the property if it's 800 foot length.

Yep. Emphasize the value of surveys for sure. You'd be surprised how many how many small issues over the years have taken place that are identified in a current survey. That's right.