Q: What if I can’t find any records of when my house was built?

• <div><p>If you can&rsquo;t find any records online, you&rsquo;ll need to contact your county clerk&rsquo;s office to do further research. They should have property records on file, or can at least point you in the right direction of who to contact. You can also speak with your neighbors about when their houses were built because they were likely built around the same time. </p></div>

Question 1

What should I do before hiring an excavation company?

Accepted Answer

•

Prior to excavation, you should prepare the dig site and call 311 before you sign anything.

To get your site ready for excavation, you should move anything in the area that isn’t affixed to the land. You can save money on the excavation by removing hardscaping, including walkways, decks, concrete patios, and paver patios.

Before you carry out any digging, you should call 311 to confirm that there are no utility lines running through your excavation site. Skipping this step could lead to severe injury and property damage if your excavator hits a water, sewage, or gas line.

Question 2

What if I can’t find any records of when my house was built?

Accepted Answer

•

If you can’t find any records online, you’ll need to contact your county clerk’s office to do further research. They should have property records on file, or can at least point you in the right direction of who to contact. You can also speak with your neighbors about when their houses were built because they were likely built around the same time.

Question 3

What information can I find in a land survey report?

Accepted Answer

•

Land survey reports have a boatload of information relevant to several scenarios. Here are the types of information contained with a survey, though it depends on your chosen type of land survey. Exact boundaries and dimensions of a given property General topography, including both natural and artificial landmarks Location of utility fixtures, like water mains Confirmation of any easements or encroachments on a piece of property Assessment of land elevation to buy flood insurance Updated information to add to a pre-existing property map

Question 4

How hard is it to buy a house for the first time?

Accepted Answer

•

Several government-backed lending programs can help first-time home buyers purchase a home with little money down. FHA, USDA, and VA loans are options for qualifying borrowers, though many conventional mortgage lenders will lower down payment rates to as low as 3 percent.

Question 5

What is the difference between a land survey and a plat?

Accepted Answer

•

A land survey includes the layout of a single property, including precise measurements and to-scale drawings of boundary lines, land improvements, and sometimes other features, like topography and drainage information. A plat map includes the layouts and boundary lines of several adjacent plots and basic structure measurements. Surveys are normally more valuable for homeowners and buyers, and plat maps are for governmental use.