Why knowing your property line matters
How to identify your property lines
- Find the existing property corner pins – One relatively easy way to identify your property lines is to find the property corner pins. When a survey is done, most surveyors install rebar at the property corners. Often times, these pieces of rebar will have a yellow cap on them. Over time, these markers get covered by soil and debris. You can typically use a simple metal detector to find them.
- Have a survey of the property done – If you cannot find the property corner pins, you can hire a surveyor to complete a boundary survey. While this will cost you some money (typically between $700-$100 depending on size of property), it will provide you with total piece of mind that you have accurate property lines and that your fence will be installed in the correct area.
- Use plat maps or county GIS maps – If you don’t want to spend the money for a survey, you can also use plat maps or GIS maps to help identify where the property lines are. You can typically obtain these maps by visiting your county auditors website and searching for your property. Once you find the property in the system, you’ll find links to aerial imagery and/or plat maps. You can then use the measurements shown from buildings to property lines to establish the approximate location of the property line. We must caution you that using these maps comes with risks and identifying property lines in this manner is not 100% accurate.