INSPECT THE PROPERTY TO VERIFY ITS TRUE VALUE

Up to this point you have only researched county records to determine if the property is valuable. However the county records have been known to be wrong a time or two. Therefore you need to view the property with your own eyes before you make a purchase. Contact the county and get a current list of tax delinquent properties that will be sold for the back taxes. You may also want to find out if you can purchase any leftovers anytime after the auction. Regardless of when you can purchase the property is that you know what you are buying ahead of time. You need to give yourself 3-4 working days to do all the researching.

Once you have the list of tax deeds for the county you will notice that they are listed with parcel numbers and or legal descriptions. This gibberish actually tells you where the property is located. There are three main ways to describe a property in legal terms.

• Metes and bounds legal system
• Rectangular (or government) survey system
• Lot and Block (recorded plat) system

The Metes-and-bounds description is one of the oldest types of legal description and will be used most often in the eastern half of the United States. It is characterized by using a property’s physical features to determine the boundaries and measurements. The description usually has a Point of Beginning (POB). From the POB, the surveyor proceeds around the boundaries of the property. It also uses linear measurements, both natural and artificial landmarks (called monuments) and directions. Mete and bounds legal descriptions always end back at the POB.

EXAMPLE:Beginning at a point on the southerly side of Holly Street, 100 feet easterly from the corner formed by the intersection of the southerly side of Holly Street and the easterly side of Apple street; then…

Be careful, metes-and bounds descriptions can be complex and should be handled with extreme caution and care. Seek professional surveyors for guidance on legal descriptions.

The Rectangular Survey System, sometimes called the government survey system is based on two sets of intersecting lines: Principal Meridians and Base lines. The principal meridian runs north and south. The base lines run east and west. Both are located by reference to degrees of longitude and latitude.

• Townships
• Ranges
• Sections and
• Quarter section lines.

Township lines will run east and west and are parallel to the base line.

Ranges are north-south strips running on either side of the principal meridian and are divided into six-mile wide strips.

Township squares are formed when township lines and range lines intersect. These squares are the basic measurement unit of the Rectangular Measurement System.

The big X above represents a Township Square. Each township square has 36 sections; each section is one square mile or 640 acres. I have enlarged this township for further explanation. Here is an example of a Township square:

To create a legal description for the number 15 above it would be written: The SW _ of SW _ of SW _ of Section 2

The third method of legal description is the lot and block system. A Plat map references a set of lot and block numbers, which are filed in the public records of the county in which the land is located.

The lot and block system must be first described by either the metes-and bounds or the rectangular survey system. Once surveyed it is then broken up into smaller pieces, which use a lot and block system of description.

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