Closing Cost to buy a small slice of neighbors land?

[Silvercreek Farmer]

What would it cost (closing wise) to buy a small slice of a neighbors property? We are talkng a triangle 30 ft wide and 50ft long. I have a feeling the survey and attorney would cost more than the land was worth. Is there a cheaper way to go? The way the lots were laid out along our road everyone just ends up mowing a little of the neighbors grass to square up their yards. It would be great to make it official...

[mnn2501]

closing costs are not based on size, they're based on what fee's are collected in your part of the country and what a title company charges.

[agmantoo]

Matthew
In NC you can go to the deed office and they have a guideline of how to fill out a deed. If you can get a a legal description of what you are buying YOU can submit the deed for registration. It is not mandatory to have a survey. My old attorney that died recently has drawn a number of deeds without a survey and we registered them without a snag. Most of the info should be on the sellers deed provided you are buying a slice that abutts your property.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

Matthew
In NC you can go to the deed office and they have a guideline of how to fill out a deed. If you can get a a legal description of what you are buying YOU can submit the deed for registration. It is not mandatory to have a survey. My old attorney that died recently has drawn a number of deeds without a survey and we registered them without a snag. Most of the info should be on the sellers deed provided you are buying a slice that abutts your property.

So the attorney would just write the description based on what we wanted to transact, who would place the pins? Or would we really only know exactly what we bought/sold when a surveyer came out? This would only be a very small portion of the neighbor's larger lot, who may have a mortgage, I don't know, but wouldn't they have to release too? Would they want an appraisal showing they still had enough value?

[danielsumner]

We did this exact thing 1 1/2 years ago. We aquired a 20ft strip down the side of our property line. I think we paid $330 for the survey and had it added to the property as a whole. Same survey company that did the orignal for the house. The attorney fees and tax fees came to about $200. This is in Georgia.

Daniel

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Originally Posted by danielsumner

We did this exact thing 1 1/2 years ago. We aquired a 20ft strip down the side of our property line. I think we paid $330 for the survey and had it added to the property as a whole. Same survey company that did the orignal for the house. The attorney fees and tax fees came to about $200. This is in Georgia.

Daniel

Just out of curiosity how much was the land?

[danielsumner]

Originally Posted by Matthew Lindsay

Just out of curiosity how much was the land?

Nothing, it was a strip that was only worth anything to me, it's mostly a little creek that runs along side. It really didn't have any use to the neighbor. I asked if I could buy it, he said that there was no way he would sell it to me, however he would be more than happy to gift it to us. Gotta love good neighbors.

Daniel

[Navotifarm]

There's more than one way to convey land without paying closing costs but it revolves around money. If you skip the attorney and create a transaction between buyer and seller as per Agmantoo's suggestion, you prepare a deed per a formula and save the attorney's fee. If the seller gives the land to you or makes a quit claim deed, then you save the purchase price. (Or pay cash and reflect the transaction as gift or quit claim). If you get a boundary adjustment done as was suggested above, then you would pay a surveyor who prepares a certified plat. All these documents have to be formally recorded in court to put the public and the tax office on notice that you are the new owner of x-described property. If you record the deed yourself, you have to pay the recording fee and other little charges they ride on there like a law library fee but you save the cost of an attorney sending his runner down there on that errand.
Obviously if you pay cash and deal with the present owner, you save all kinds of financing charges.
However, as I can tell you having learned the hard way, you get what you pay for! Others on this forum will tell you, you need a lawyer! Well, you might not need one for a simple transaction but then again, you might find out in the future you wish you had one. Well, two, one for you and one for the seller.
It also comes to me to suggest that if this is a subdivision that was poorly laid out and you have a home owners' association, there could be a joint solution created to your problem perhaps even to the developer submitting a revised subdivision plat. Oh boy. And then there would be deeds of correction. That little triangle can turn into a writhing can of worms, so stay alert!

[ET1 SS]

When I bought our land, I hired a lawyer.

He wrote up my new deed,
filed the deed,
did a title search,
title insurance,
and he handed over the cash for the purchase.

I never actually met with the seller, I only spoke with him over the phone a few times.

The lawyer charges $200 flat fee.

I paid the purchase price plus $200.

[uncle Will in In.]

You will still have to mow the triangle. If you have no other plans for it what is the gain in buying it? Don't forget to pay your new property taxes.