General: Unlike living in a city or town, understanding where a property begins or ends is often not obvious or what it seems. The title company report when you bought your home usually includes a description of parcel boundaries and right of ways but they are not always easy for the first timer to understand clearly. Often information regarding where lines are located is from word of mouth or other potentially unreliable sources.

Locating Lines: It is almost always a good idea to understand where property lines actually are when starting plans for driveways, any kind of building, landscaping or other things on your property. The county or other applicable government entity will require this on a plot map if you are required to get permits for your project. Knowing property lines is also a good idea before cutting down or trimming trees or putting up fences or walls. Many times there are corner stakes that mark where property lines meet if you can find them. They often have been destroyed over time and sometimes moved, so if you are thinking about doing work that potentially could cause a problem if it turns out not to be on your parcel its best to have a surveyor reestablish the appropriate corners and lines. Just like the saying 'good fences make good neighbors' knowing property lines can help avoid conflicts that nobody wishes to have.

Official Description of Lines: Beside that title company description a place for finding a map and description of your property lines in the county offices where your property is located. The parcels are usually referenced by the Assessors Parcel Number (APN) which is on your tax bill and your title report as well. While a visit to the county offices to view your parcel information in the right parcel book is certainly doable, it is not trivial unless you have done it before. Take into consideration the location and hours of the department where the parcel book resides, the procedure for getting access when you are there, potential wait times and finally understanding what you are looking at once you have the right page in the right book. A lot of this is available online now so if you are even slightly skilled you can access your parcel maps and avoid the potential problems generated by a personal visit to the county offices.

In short it is almost always better to be sure than to guess when doing anything that may infringe on someone's property.

A good resource for obtaining GIS (Geological Information Systems) data is here. Parcel maps can be searched either through APNs or Street Address.

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