Do You Need a Survey When Buying a New Property?

05/01/17 • -1 min

Houston Real Estate Podcast with Dale Ross

Do you need a survey when buying a property? I’ll go over the answer today.

Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access
Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home

Recently, a client of mine asked, “Do I need a survey when I’m buying a property?”

Need is a strong word, but I highly recommend getting a survey. In today’s market, you’re actually able to obtain a past survey from a seller. The seller has to sign a T-47 affidavit, which states that nothing has changed or been added since the last survey. Unfortunately, sometimes a change or addition can slip the seller’s mind, like replacing a fence. In my opinion, it’s always best to get a new survey done with every new transaction.

A survey is not required unless you’re obtaining a mortgage to purchase a property. If you pay cash, a survey is not required, but the boundaries of the property are still mentioned in the title commitment. The survey must coincide with the boundaries mentioned in the title commitment,

Do you need a survey when buying a property? I’ll go over the answer today.

Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access
Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home

Recently, a client of mine asked, “Do I need a survey when I’m buying a property?”

Previous Episode

Some Exciting Developments in the Real Estate World

I’ve got two exciting announcements to share today. Here’s the big news.

Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access
Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home

I’ve got a few exciting pieces of news to share with you today.

First, I have partnered with a vendor who will allow you to make upgrades and updates to your home before selling and you won’t have to pay until after closing. Let’s say you want to replace the paint in a room, the flooring in another, or do a complete remodel of a bathroom. With this program, our vendor will let you defer paying for those repairs (which will increase your home’s sale price) until the home is sold. It’s a very exciting program.

The next thing I want to talk about is a new product that is coming out to replace heavy, expensive granite and marble. It’s pretty incredible.

This product is man-made out of organic materials. It’s recyclable and doesn’t need to be re-sealed because it’s not porous. You never have to polish it either and two men can carry a slab of it easily.

Next Episode

Is a Contingency Purchase Agreement a Good Idea for a Seller to Consider?

If you’re a home seller, accepting a contingency purchase means you have to take certain things into consideration you otherwise wouldn’t have with a normal offer.

Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access
Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home

Today I want to cover the basics of a contingency purchase and how it differs from a regular purchase if you’re a home seller.

A contingency purchase is when a buyer for your home has a home they have to sell before they can close on your home. There are both good contingency purchases and bad contingency purchases, but I would never recommend that you accept a contingency purchase as long as your buyer’s home is not on the market. If their home is on the market, I usually investigate the buyer of the home they’re selling and their qualifications and advise my client on how to proceed from there.

After you accept a contingency purchase, you have the right to accept other offers, but that typically doesn’t happen very much. Buyers tend to shy away from homes if they’re already under some kind of contingency agreement. By accepting a contingency purchase, you’re basically taking your home off the market.

By accepting a contingency purchase, you’re taking your home off the market somewhat...