Definition
A survey is a professional measurement and mapping of a property's boundaries, structures, and features, performed by a licensed land surveyor to confirm exactly where a property's legal lines fall. Surveys can reveal important information for a homeowner selling their house, such as whether a fence, shed, driveway, or addition encroaches onto a neighbor's land or vice versa. Buyers, especially those using certain types of financing, often require an updated survey before closing to confirm boundaries and identify any easements or encroachments that could affect their use of the property. If a survey uncovers a discrepancy, it can delay closing while the issue is resolved, sometimes requiring a boundary line agreement or even a legal encroachment resolution. Sellers who already have a recent survey on hand can often provide it to speed up the process and reduce costs. Getting ahead of survey issues can prevent last-minute surprises that jeopardize your closing date. A survey is what turns the legal description on your deed into physical lines on the ground, and it is how boundary problems get discovered before closing rather than after. Fences built a few feet over a line, a neighbor's driveway clipping a corner, a shed on an easement — none of these show up in a title search, because a title search reads records, not the yard.
Example
When Julio's buyer's lender required a new survey as a condition of the loan, it revealed that his neighbor's fence was actually two feet onto Julio's property, a fact neither of them had realized in the fifteen years they had lived next to each other. Julio was worried the discrepancy might scare off his buyer or blow up the deal entirely. Instead, Julio and his neighbor sat down together and worked out a simple boundary line agreement that let the fence stay where it was in exchange for a small recorded easement, which the title company then documented before closing. Both neighbors signed the agreement within a few days once they realized how straightforward the fix actually was. This resolution took about three weeks and required a small fee for the updated survey documentation and recording. The sale closed on a slightly delayed but still reasonable timeline, and Julio's buyer appreciated that the issue had been handled cleanly before they took ownership. In practice, the survey is also what lets a title company delete the standard survey exception from the buyer's policy. If a problem does surface, it is usually solved with a recorded boundary line agreement, an easement, or a price adjustment — all easier to handle before the closing date than after.