As I was getting ready for my ride this morning, a man was driving by and stopped to talk to me. He wasn't there just to chat, he was there to inform me that my mulch pile, doggie dropping dump and brush piles were on his land. I told him I was under the impression that they were on my land, and that my land went to the tree behind the mulch pile, but if not, then I would be happy to move them. Now, the guy was very nice, so I didn't take offense. He also mentioned that he was having someone come in to clean up all the leaves and dead wood on his property.
After my ride, I was going to start moving the brush piles, but then I saw something that made me get out my deed and figure out exactly where my land ended. Turns out that 99% of the stuff that he complained about is on my land; one of the brush piles did just slightly (I mean - maybe 6") onto his property. Since he is a landlord for the apartment's which land was in question, I didn't know how I could contact him. I didn't want him to have his guy remove my brush piles as there are some birds that use at least one of them for nesting underneath.
So I went to the apartments and they had a For Rent sing, with a phone number. I called and talked again to the guy, explained the situation (my land goes along a stone wall and to a metal pin. He asked if I had located the pin - yep, and it is by the big tree that I said I thought was my property line. He then proceded to explain how he had never located the pin. Oh? Really? That is amazing since I can see it from my back door (that is what I saw when I let Prince out that led me to dig out my deed).
That pin is now a part of the tree it is leaning agianst, so hasn't moved any in the last, oh, say 15+ years. In the second picture, the doggie doo pile is in the foreground, clearly on my land.
And what about that rock wall. Oh, he didn't know about that either. To give him the benefit of a doubt, it is rather hard to see as it is old, decrepit and sunken in. But I was pretty sure my property went to the huge rock in back - and it seems to be part of the rock wall.
Trust me, in person you can tell where the wall is and where the corner is made. Sure, it doesn't stick out, but if you look for it, you can find it.
So, once I explained this to him, and told him I would move the small part of the brush pile that is on his land, he seemed to be okay with it. Hopefully he explains this all to whomever he hires to clean up his property, because I will not be happy if he removes my brush piles (and the birds won't be happy either).
But, the real moral to this story is not to trust that someone knows what he is talking about when it comes to property boundaries. Make sure you have a copy of your deed accessible so that if you need it on a weekend, you've got it.
You should have taken a surveying class with your dad or me (I took it as a freshman, he as a senior - required course regardless of one's major). One exercise had each team survey across the school's golf course one week, driving a nail into the ground, and coming back the following week to resume from the nail. Amazingly, as far as I know, every team was always able to locate the nail that had been left the previous week.
Good for you in locating the marker.
Posted by: Cop Car | May 03, 2014 at 10:39 PM
Um, would have been hard for me to take the class with you and Dad, considering I wasn't even thought of yet - LOL
The marker, being about 6 feet tall, 1.5" thick pipe painted red made it exceedingly easy to find!
Posted by: bogie | May 04, 2014 at 05:49 AM
We've got a marker like that on one corner, except ours is standing in the middle of some heavy brush, you have to actually LOOK for it to find it. Not an issue at the moment, but if/when the folks on that side move out I for-see a pending issue. I'm reluctant to cut back the brush though, the animals love it!
Posted by: Ruth | May 04, 2014 at 09:24 AM
Hmmm...I saw that pipe; but, in my experience that is probably not an official marker - too easily moved (except when a tree has grown around it!) It may be in the correct place; but, it is probably "pointing to" the official marker (as in: the real marker is surrounded by the bottom of the pipe) - but, not necessarily of course. Who knows what the surveyors had in mind? Oh, well. You may recall that, on Sunrise, the mark at one turn of our property line was chiseled into a manhole cover - such that, the cover had to be clocked to the correct position for it to align with the part of the chisel mark that was on the collar.
Well...let's not say that you hadn't been thought of. When your dad took surveying (and I helped him through it!) I was pregnant with your sister and we never intended that she should be an only child.
Posted by: Cop Car | May 04, 2014 at 09:49 AM
CC - you obviously lived in a more civilized world for making markers. At the other house, they painted an orange dot on a rock (one small enough to be moved with a pry bar). Needless to say, we moved it before realizing what it was. Heck, I've seen them mark boundaries with orange tape tied around a tree limb - not the trunk, but a limb. Long iron pipes aren't out of the question in heavy forest - the leaves will bury a marker in one season. Also, I was thinking as I left work today (don't ask why) that my original estimate of 15+ years is way under - and it has to be 30-50 years by the size of the tree, which would be about right for the timeframe that this house was built.
However, you may be right and it wasn't the original marker - but it is in line with the stone wall, so I will let the other property owner try to prove me wrong if he so desires.
Posted by: bogie | May 05, 2014 at 08:07 PM
My parents have one property line thats marked with a (formerly bright orange) rope tied from one tree to another. The rope is, needless to say, been there so long the trees have grown around the knots....
Posted by: Ruth | May 06, 2014 at 08:34 AM