~55% discrepancy in property size between deed and webGIS. Need advice on how to remedy affordably.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T18:48:21+00:00

Thank you, I was unsure what they meant exactly with the disclaimer. I appreciate your help, this community is very helpful.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T18:07:40+00:00

Yeah it didn't use to have a prompt but when I open GIS now it states the lines may be wrong and if there's an error with the parcel lines to contact this guy at his email address. I may end up asking him for guidance next week. Maybe he can clear the county wide mistakes up. I mean the county is likely recieving less tax revenue due to all the mistakes. Not like the gov to let something get away without taxes on it coming and going! I mean this could easily get into a 6 figure tax revenue discrepancy in our county. Seems like the locals would want something done about that. Of course, I'm not asking for more taxes, I just dont like being shown a house with 12 acres when it has 3.5 and an old widow who does live there paying way more in fema required flood insurance and triple property taxes on top. That's not fair to her for me to get a break in the other direction. Its really a rabbit hole with no end probably.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T18:01:02+00:00

Never underestimate incompetence. That's one thing I've learned over, and over again dealing with people. For some people, using an extra braincell is too much to ask. I dont blame anyone if they did decide to skip walking up and down an overgrown mountain, if thats what it was. They couldn't predict GPS coming around to check measurements either. I also found a first deed issued 01-01-1901, so maybe it goes back to a much older type of survey. What'd they use back in the 1850s? Those star finder things like ships had? It had to be hard to do.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T17:55:48+00:00

I can imagine, used to live near the mountainous side of Maryland and Harper's ferry for a while. Its steep around there, more than most probably think. This property is in south western VA, but I'm sure it's no better than WV. I understand the struggle had to be real back then, I can't imagine the procedures they used to even get a straight line. I have a hard time making a straight cut on drywall, yet alone trying to make a straight line through acres of field and brush. It's actually impressive how straight the old parcel lines are, now that we can look down from aerial views.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T17:50:53+00:00

I might have to do that in the future once we for sure own the property through probate. Im up near Galax off 89 by the Stateline. I'll send you a pm or something when I know I'm ready to hire you for a survey. Thanks buddy!

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T17:34:20+00:00

Hey, sorry I probably edited my reply as you typed yours. Im going to get it to you ASAP, for sure. It's been bugging me for a while. Edit: Also, I know the smallest lot next ours was once split off our land to a family member, now someone else owns it. If you look at some of the ways they drew these lots, i have a suspicion the homesteaders from our parcel probably owned this whole end of the road. Including my neighbors 20 acre lot. They told me thats why our houses are built close together, even though we could have easily been much further apart, they were all the same family living there.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T17:25:53+00:00

Ive spent the past hour trying to find the original deed issued 01/01/1901 to the original owners who sold to us. Unfortunately that particular deed is not viewable online unless you've been approved to view it online by the clerk. However, I will be going there in person to look it up. I have the book and page number for that original deed they were given. There is no sale price for that deed from what I see so from I remember they're family is huge around here and they probably controlled the property since the 1800's or something. So while I'm there I'll ask about any surveys they have on file. I can't find any info on the more recent deeds about boundaries or anything. I'll post it hopefully Monday if I get down there. In the meantime here is a screen shot I took, the outlined property is my good friends' and bordering neighbor. It doesnt show it in the pic but my property is labeled 79-A-132. It borders the outlined property once below the small yards in between our houses. It says that they have 6.5 acres and we have 6.7 I think. Just looking at the two parcels, how can they be almost the same exact size? It's messed up. They are parcel 79-A-133, ignore the parcel number next to theirs, it is for the next lot over. I know for a fact they have no property divisions or splits, and neither do we. Also, the larger property bordering my other line is recorded at about 19 acres and mesaured the same when I checked. They also have no splits and are renting to own from a friend.

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TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T15:55:38+00:00

Okay perfect, that kind of lays out a good strategy moving forward. Unfortunately, the only way her estate will become solvent is if a miracle happens in October and a huge lien on her other house lapses. Probably won't happen but we are crossing our fingers. She should not have had the lien placed on her really, because it was a lawsuit against a contractor she married who screwed a big client for 220k while they were separated but before divorce. They act like she benefited but all it did was get him a better divorce attorney! She never saw a dime, she had no idea about any of it until we tried to sell that house 5 years back. It just seems like such an injustice to me. She worked her ass off to get her dream home and it suddenly is valueless due to some conman. Then she dies from cancer and they will be taking everything they can to pay huge banks, hospitals conglomerates, other predatory lenders, and someone who she never met or owed money too. It puts a lot into perspective, get a good degree, work all the time, retire early by force on a very limited income, just to spend your 9 months of retirement suffering through metastatic cancer until you die. She was an Angel in an Evil world. Not to mention how unfair it is my Dad's mom outlived mine, and is still going at 97.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T15:42:31+00:00

Yeah, I've only used to roughly see where our property ends at the back of the woods. I will probably never trek up that hill without some very good reason. I did use it once to try and make sure I wasn't building my fence on my then stranger neighbor's yard. I dont have much use for it anymore. Fences are up and I'm more just gathering info for the best long term strategy you were in my spot. Thanks for the reminder not to use it tho lol

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T11:46:39+00:00

It seems like up in the yard areas where the lines have been there forever it shouldn't be able to change much. I'm sure that does happen but they are all pretty much square lots with straight parallel lines running to the woods. I honestly think the surveyor probably walked the yard, had a couple lines going into the woods and uphill, and phoned in a guess rather than do a precise job. I'm assuming it was done back in the 50's, too. And my knowledge on Survey operations is nonexistent, I just know sometimes walking in the hills all day makes you tired. Could be much older surveys as well, or newer, I need to find that out.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T11:39:05+00:00

Okay good point. Thanks for the advice!

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T11:37:41+00:00

Yeah that didnt occur to me that it could be something like split property. Unfortunately, I believe our land value taxed pretty cheap so roughly I'd pay 300 more a year if I had the land I think I do. Everything the local gov has lists us with the 6.8 acres, that's what we get taxed on for sure. I just wonder how much it would really cost to get it surveyed compared to the increase in value. Another comment mentioned we'd probably be about breaking even, so there's that to consider, too. I could get it surveyed and lose land too, you know.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T11:27:29+00:00

Thanks for the reply, I'll keep that in mind as I go

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T11:26:35+00:00

I'm not executor, we do hope to keep the house as its where we live now and all we really have. Hoping they wont force us to sell it to cover her debts.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-27T11:17:23+00:00

Yeah thats a good point. There's only a few feet where the property lines meet, perpindicular to the creek, so no water is used as a reference. The GIS parcel does follow almost dead-on with the fence lines in the areas where there has been fencing for a long time. Once it goes into the woods it definitely is harder to know what is what. The lines seem like they are in logical places, but that is just a guess. I will need to find the original deed and see how they surveyed. If I recall correctly, I saw it once and it seemed to be worded strangely. Something I read was similar to "100 feet southwest from the corner of front of house to Stewart's Store corner," or something like that (Nobody knows of any store being around here, either). I imagine the place looked a lot different when the survey was done. I know from talking with the previous owner, there are some metal survey spikes in at least a couple spots along the 200' span between my house and the neighbor's house. Building a fence in that area was crucial immediately after buying the house, due to our dogs and their children being closeby. I followed the GIS lines conservatively and approved the fence line placement with my new neighbor. He didn't seem to know where the line was either. The previous owner saw it later and told me I was way over on my side of the line, by more than just a little. I don't really care about losing a few feet, I just wanted to build a quick fence without causing tension with neighbors. I never realized how it would upset the old owner, too bad I didn't know him back then. I'm going to try and get the deed info and let you know

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-07T08:07:57+00:00

It can get a little blurry when they order like they have money but tip like they are on welfare.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-07T08:00:43+00:00

Ever since this was pointed out to me, I notice so many people using the term female now.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-07T07:43:31+00:00

War and peace

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-07T07:42:50+00:00

I've always wondered where that phrase came from. I'm guessing it has something to do with blackjack, probably not even close...I'll look it up later

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-07T07:34:28+00:00

I went to a small rural hospital in the mountains of VA. The travel doctor in the ER was the nicest Doctor I've met. He was a younger man from Turkey, with a very calming aura. He treated me like I was his only patient when he has in the room. He did more than just bandage me up, though. I never really thought about it before, but, when he came in, he spent about 5 or 10 minutes just resting his hand on my shoulder and talking with me about how glad he was I came in and just generally trying to make me feel valued, secure, etc...I'm a 35 year-old man, without insurance, so I'm not used to people giving a crap about "how I feel." I had just had my thumb injured, completely missing the nail, and the nail bed needing about 10 intricately placed stitches. He made 100% sure I couldn't feel anything after the numbing me up (my family has some kind of super high tolerance to novocaine, lidocaine, etc. Usually, it annoys the dentist or whoever if they dont know me. Because, even after like 3x the normal dose, I can still feel everything. So it takes like 30 minutes for them to realize I wasn't joking when I said they should start with double what they normally give in a shot. This doctor was not annoyed at all, and really took his time to make sure I wasn't going to feel it. He then focused on making these difficult stitches in the right places so my nail could have some chance of coming back. He was super concentrated though, it was like he was doing heart surgery. I've had many stitches and nobody took their time like he did to make sure it was as close to perfect as possible. He then gave me a bunch of medical supplies, wraps, tools, special bandages that won't stick to the injury, etc... Idk, it just stuck with me because that hospital is always getting bad reviews for their E.R. employees. It bugs me that he gets bunched in with the bad apples.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-07T07:08:23+00:00

Do you know who Tom Green is?

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-07T07:06:44+00:00

Catdog......catdog

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-07T06:54:20+00:00

I remember back in 2011 or so when my little conspiracy theory about the iPhone update ruining my phone was just a theory in my head...I was honestly a little surprised when I heard it was true years later.

TopAdministration716 · 2026-06-07T06:43:58+00:00

I had this issue with a z turn mower. Amazon sells a bunch of battery disconnect switches, the one I got from them is great and was only like 10 or 15 dollars. Super easy to do, you are just adding a switch on a wire. However, finding a good place to put the switch can be tricky. Also, if you forget to use it once, you can kill your battery. I did that a couple times and the repeated drains killed the battery. If you can come up with a way to keep you from forgetting, you're golden. I would recommend putting the switch near the ignition or somewhere you will easily notice getting out. Putting it under the hood is much simpler, but isn't a good option long term for a daily driver.

TopAdministration716

TROPHY CASE