example, part of a section may be submerged in water.

unit 9 real estate Flashcards Fractional sections and government lotsUndersized or oversized sections are classified as fractional sections. Fractional sections may occur for a number of reasons. In some areas, for instance, the rectangular survey may have been made by separate crews, and gaps less than a section wide remained when the surveys met. Other errors may have resulted from the physical difficulties encountered in the actual survey. For example, part of a section may be submerged in water.Areas smaller than full quarter-sections were numbered and designated as government lots by surveyors. These lots can be created by the curvature of the earth, by land bordering or surrounding large bodies of water, or by artificial state borders. An overage or a shortage was corrected whenever possible by placing the government lots in the north or west portions of the fractional sections.BenchmarksAs discussed earlier in this unit, monuments traditionally are used to mark surface measurements between points. A monument could be a marker set in concrete, a piece of steel-reinforcing bar (rebar), a metal pipe driven into the soil, or simply a wooden stake stuck in the dirt. Because such items are subject to the whims of nature and vandals, their accuracy is sometimes suspect. As a result, surveyors instead rely heavily on benchmarks to mark their work accurately and permanently. Benchmarks are permanent reference points that have been established throughout the United States. They are usually embossed brass markers set into solid concrete or asphalt bases. While used to some degree for surface measurements, their principal

reference use is for marking datums.In Practice: All large

cities have established a local official datum used in place of the USGS datum. For instance, the official datum for Chicago is known as the Chicago City Datum. It is a horizontal plane that corresponded to the low water level of Lake Michigan in 1847 (the year in which the datum was established) and is considered to be at zero elevation.Although a surveyor's measurement of elevation based on the USGS datum will differ from one computed according to a local datum, it can be translated to an elevation based on the USGS. Cities with local datums also have designated official local benchmarks, which are assigned permanent identifying numbers. Local benchmarks simplify surveyors'

work because the basic benchmarks may be miles away. A major one in Chicago is located at State and Madison Streets. It references non-city addresses extending far west of Cook County. County addresses beginning with 33 West or 25 West refer to number of miles west of State Street (as the crow flies !). Numbers 1 North or 4 South refer to miles north or south of Madison Street.Township tiersLines running east and west, parallel to the base line and six miles apart, are referred to as township lines. They form strips of land called township tiers. These township tiers are designated by consecutive numbers north or south of the base line. For instance, a strip of land between 6 and 12 miles north of a base line is Township 2 North.SectionsEach township contains 36 sections. Each section is one square mile, or 640 acres. Sections are numbered 1 through 36. Section 1 is always in the northeast, or upper right-hand, corner. The numbering proceeds right to left (backward), beginning in the upper right-hand corner. From there, the numbers drop down to the next tier and continue from left to right, then back from right again to left. By law, each section number 16 is set aside for school purposes because the sale or rental proceeds from section 16 were originally available for township school use. The schoolhouse was often located in this section so it would be centrally located for all of the students in the township.As a result, Section 16 is always referred to as the school section. The rectangular survey system sometimes uses a shorthand method in its descriptions. For instance, a

comma may be used in place of the word of: SE¼, SE¼,

SE¼, Section 1. It is possible to combine portions of a section, such as NE¼ of SW¼ and N½ of NW¼ of SE¼ of Section 1, which could also be written NE¼, SW¼; N½,

NW¼, SE¼ of Section 1. A semicolon means "and." Because of the word and in this description, tallying first the total amount of land on each side of "and" (or the semicolon), then adding those two numbers together for area, gives 60 acres.Lot-and-Block SystemThe third method of legal description is the lot-and-block (recorded plat) system. This system uses lot-and-block numbers referred to in a plat map filed in the public records of the county where the land is located. The lot-and-block system is often used to describe property in subdivisions and urban areas. A lot-and-block survey is performed in two steps. First, a large parcel of land is described either by metes and bounds or by rectangular survey. Once this large parcel is surveyed, it is broken into smaller parcels.As a result, a lot-and-block legal description is always a smaller part of a metes-and-bounds or rectangular survey description. For each parcel described under the lot-and-block system, the lot refers to the numerical designation of any particular parcel. The block refers to the name of the subdivision under which the map is recorded.The block reference is drawn from the early 1900s, when a city block was the most common type of subdivided property. The lot-and-block system starts with the

preparation of a subdivision plat by a licensed surveyor or an engineer (see the figure below). On this plat, the land is divided into numbered or lettered lots and blocks, and streets or access roads for public use are indicated. Lot sizes and street details must be described completely and must comply with all local ordinances and requirements.When properly signed and approved, the subdivision plat is recorded in the county in which the land is located Preparing A SurveyLegal descriptions are very specific and detailed and should not be altered or combined without the assistance of a surveyor or attorney. A licensed surveyor is trained and authorized to locate and determine the legal description of any parcel of land. The surveyor does this by preparing two

documents: a survey and a survey sketch. The survey

states the property's legal description. The survey sketch shows the location and dimensions of the parcel. When a survey also shows the location, size, and shape of buildings on the lot, it is referred to as a spot survey.Legal descriptions should be copied with extreme care. An incorrectly worded legal description in a sales contract may result in a conveyance of more or less land than the parties intended. Attorneys should confirm that the legal descriptions on the survey, deed, and title policy match in every transaction. Title problems can arise for the buyer who seeks to convey the property at a future date. Even if