Deeds and property description

[Eugene]

Old property deeds often describe a boundary marker as a "pine knot".

Purchased a fixer-upper. Typed deed describes the property as lot 83 in block 9. Bordered on the north and south by a street and an alley. West boundry is by the back garden lot of (names) husband and wife. East boundry is the residence lot of (names) husband and wife, being a lot of 52 feet wide. Bottom of the typed deed is a hand written note.

alley and Benton st. & one hundred feet (100) deep. NOTE THIS MAY OR MAY NOT BE CORRECT.

Copy of the deed and a property survey was provided prior to the sale/purchase. The lot number and location is correct. Some of the information in the deed is not correct and confusing. The lot is actually 50 feet wide and 100 feet in depth.

Been to the county recorder's office obtaining deeds and previous deeds to the property and to adjacent properties to varify the block, lot numbers, and lot size as being 50' x 100'.

XXXXX

This is the third instance where the family has purchased property and the property description and the deed didn't match up.

My Dad purchased a building that was and ice cream stand. The ice cream stand had a big parking lot around it. Turned out that the purchase included the ice cream stand, parking, and the house of the original ice cream stand owner.

[MiCarl]

I saw an article recently where a guy bought a building from a municipality. At the closing he said the description didn't look right but the seller assured him it was.

It turned out they included their water tower at no charge. After they realized what they'd done he was nice about it and deeded the water tower back to them.

[Eugene]

I'm still researching the property.

There was a circuit court law suit over an encroachment in 1992. The case was not settled in the court. Both parties withdrew their suits. Seaching for a settlement agreement or lack there of.

Next issue is a 20' x 50' parking in front of the house, across the frontage street. Neighbors tell me that I own the parking. Parking is not listed in the deed. Court house search says the parking belongs to Casey's (mid-west convience chain). Casey's employees say that the parking is for the residence use. I need to contact Casey's corporate HQ and see if there is some kind of agreement or statement on who owns the parking or usage of the parking.

XXX. Next local issue. A lot of local deeds list the property description as from a physical described location. Example, my house deed lists the property as 55 feet wide, starting at the intersection of 2nd street and South Jefferson. ---- City had 2nd street surveyed several years ago in preperation for street repair. The survey marker was placed about 18" inside the established property line and about 3 feet inside my garage. Filed a complaint. Resurvey placed the property line in the correct location.

[Paul Van Benschoten]

35 years ago, my wife was given a wood lot that had been in the family for a long time. The 10 acres were deep in the forest and we had to cross several parcels to get to it. There was no right of away, just a general OK from the other owners.

Anyway, the deed mentioned the size in chains and links starting at the large tree. When I started cutting firewood I found a large tree and picked that as one corner of the lot. Years later I was doing some research at the county deed office and I found out that the original deed that listed the large tree was from the 1700s. Any large tree I saw wasn't even an acorn back then!

[tinnerjohn]

When my wife and I purchased my Grandma's property in 1987 I was reading the deed descripton and asked the Attorney why our lot dimensions said so many feet "more or less". He told me "Because it wasn't planned, it happened". I've also been told that if the survey's don't follow the original that the boundarys can move by several feet since the last section in a township usually is slightly smaller due to errors and the accuracy of the equipment (chains, rods etc.) Turns out what I always thought was cast in stone turned out to be sandstone, not granite! When my sisters and I sold our Dad's we found out a 1/4 acre that we were told he purchased from a neighbor and we had to mow with a push mower, our oldest sister used a reel mower, was never recorded!

John