Told we were buying 2.5 acres only got 2.1! (Austin: sales, real estate)

[Mcoop]

This is going to be a long one so please bear with me. My husband and I did I private purchase on property. We knew the seller and spoke to seller about purchasing 2.5 acres. We were told at the time of discussion via Facebook messenger that the property was one 2 acre lot and then a .50 acre lot to total 2.5 acres. We asked the seller if the mobile home (unlivable home) and a barn were included in the 2.5 acres and he said yes. So we agreed on a purchase price and signed a contract with a legal description for the 2 acre and .50 acre lot. We got approved through our bank and got a title company to process everything. We hired a survey company to survey the property. We ere told by the survey company that they would be finished with the survey by 01/10. Our closing date was 01/15. On 01/09 I contacted the survey company to find out when they would be done and they hadn’t even gotten started stating they had issues with the deed description and the fact that the property had not been surveyed in over 100 years. They advised me that they may not even be able to do the survey. I told them if they could not do it then to just refund me. Magically they had the survey done 3 days later. They put stakes out on the property and when I seen them and noticed they were pretty much in the middle of the 2.5 acres, really closer to the .50 acres and our survey showed it was 2.1 acres and per that survey it did not have the mobile home and barn on it. I called and asked why the stakes were there. They refused to tell me if that was where our property line began and said I would have to pay them to show me. I didn’t want them to come out and show me I just wanted to know if that’s where the line began. After going back and fourth with them for several days we finally agreed to pay them to come out and then they stopped answering our phone calls or wouldn’t call back. By this time the seller is threatening to back out because it’s taking so long. So I call my title company and ask them about the survey and they said that because our property extended out half way to the highway that after you take the highway portion out we would own 2.1 acres. So we went with tbat and closed. Now our neighbors believe they own the portion of the property that has the trailer and barn on it is part of their property even though they only own 1 acre. so they are getting a survey done to see if that is fact. I called my survey company again and told them we were in a boundary line dispute with the neighbors and only then did they finally decide to tell her that our property begins at the stakes. If we knew that we would have never purchased the property. Now we are waiting for the neighbors survey to come back to see if they do own the property but now we are stuck in a situation where we were either lord to by the seller or the seller is telling the truth and something happened with the survey.
What are my options? I called my survey company and told them we are basically missing .50 acres of good property and they are telling me they went based off the deed provided by the title company and the title company is telling me I need to contact the survey company and have them figure it out.
I have spoken to the seller and he swears up and down that the survey is wrong as he lived on the land for years.
What do I do?

[ChristieP]

You should have never closed on the property without a clear survey. Sounds like you're out of luck.

[BobTex]

If your sales contract states 2.5 acres then this sounds like this could be grounds for breach of contractual agreement. You need a real estate attorney.

[rabbit33]

I can't quite figure out what happened from the wall of text, but you should never pay money for land until an agreed-upon survey is in hand. Before handing over money, there must be a clear agreement between seller and buyer exactly what's being sold.

My wife has a cousin who had to dispute a survey where the line of the previous survey (probably dating to the late 1800s) was to the middle of a creek, but the purchaser tried to move the stakes up onto his bank of the creek.

It seems that you agreed to purchase two parcels, and somewhere in this process the seller and you no longer agree on the boundaries of the two parcels? Does your deed show the two parcels' legal descriptions? How are the two parcels described? Is it according to the original survey? Have you looked at the local assessor's map? (I'm assuming these are metes-and-bounds parcels, not platted lots.)

All the information I'm talking about is readily available from your county appraisal district office.

[texasdiver]

You bought a piece of property using Facebook messenger?

Basically you should have never closed until you knew exactly what you were buying. Closing dates are not fixed in stone. I have delayed closings (and and them delayed on me) for a variety of reasons.

As for your options now? I doubt you will get any intelligent advice here from people who have not actually read your sale contract and title. But you probably have several options

1. You can try to unwind the sale but too much time might have passed to legally do that. I think Texas gives you 3 days.
2. You can try to negotiate a discount from the seller based on the percentage of land that is missing. Whatever that is...10% Presumably you liked the land enough to buy it in the first place. So one presumes you still like it even if the lot is slightly smaller than you thought.
3. You can take legal action which might cost more than the land is actually worth, or certainly more than the amount you feel you were shorted. Which is why #2 might be the best option.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Mcoop

This is going to be a long one so please bear with me. My husband and I did I private purchase on property. We knew the seller and spoke to seller about purchasing 2.5 acres. We were told at the time of discussion via Facebook messenger that the property was one 2 acre lot and then a .50 acre lot to total 2.5 acres. We asked the seller if the mobile home (unlivable home) and a barn were included in the 2.5 acres and he said yes. So we agreed on a purchase price and signed a contract with a legal description for the 2 acre and .50 acre lot. We got approved through our bank and got a title company to process everything. We hired a survey company to survey the property. We ere told by the survey company that they would be finished with the survey by 01/10. Our closing date was 01/15. On 01/09 I contacted the survey company to find out when they would be done and they hadn’t even gotten started stating they had issues with the deed description and the fact that the property had not been surveyed in over 100 years. They advised me that they may not even be able to do the survey. I told them if they could not do it then to just refund me. Magically they had the survey done 3 days later. They put stakes out on the property and when I seen them and noticed they were pretty much in the middle of the 2.5 acres, really closer to the .50 acres and our survey showed it was 2.1 acres and per that survey it did not have the mobile home and barn on it. I called and asked why the stakes were there. They refused to tell me if that was where our property line began and said I would have to pay them to show me. I didn’t want them to come out and show me I just wanted to know if that’s where the line began. After going back and fourth with them for several days we finally agreed to pay them to come out and then they stopped answering our phone calls or wouldn’t call back. By this time the seller is threatening to back out because it’s taking so long. So I call my title company and ask them about the survey and they said that because our property extended out half way to the highway that after you take the highway portion out we would own 2.1 acres. So we went with tbat and closed. Now our neighbors believe they own the portion of the property that has the trailer and barn on it is part of their property even though they only own 1 acre. so they are getting a survey done to see if that is fact. I called my survey company again and told them we were in a boundary line dispute with the neighbors and only then did they finally decide to tell her that our property begins at the stakes. If we knew that we would have never purchased the property. Now we are waiting for the neighbors survey to come back to see if they do own the property but now we are stuck in a situation where we were either lord to by the seller or the seller is telling the truth and something happened with the survey.
What are my options? I called my survey company and told them we are basically missing .50 acres of good property and they are telling me they went based off the deed provided by the title company and the title company is telling me I need to contact the survey company and have them figure it out.
I have spoken to the seller and he swears up and down that the survey is wrong as he lived on the land for years.
What do I do?

I'm REALLY surprised your title company and lender for that matter allowed/funded a closing without legit surveys on the books.

Step 1. Is there an endorsed copy of the new survey in your closing documents? There should be.

Step 2. Look at your title policy - see if there is an exception under exclusions.

Report back.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by BobTex

If your sales contract states 2.5 acres then this sounds like this could be grounds for breach of contractual agreement. You need a real estate attorney.

I recommend former Austin Mayor Steven Adler. He is a real estate attorney and is very familiar with fraudulent real estate transactions.

[blakely]

I'm having a really hard time following your post, but can offer this:

Did you get an endorsed survey prior to closing showing the boundary lines and acreage?
If not, do not pass go; it would be problematic to close without this.

Assuming you did receive such a survey, the title company would have had to review it. What exceptions did the title company outline regarding the purchase? Were any related to the discrepancies that have arisen?

If this cleared title with an endorsed survey showing boundary lines of 2.5 acres on the land you think you purchased, then you have a strong case. If not, it's hard to know what your options are, but I'd contact a RE attorney to see if you have any recourse.

[CCCyou]

Originally Posted by Mcoop

they said that because our property extended out half way to the highway that after you take the highway portion out we would own 2.1 acres. So we went with tbat and closed

There’s your answer right there- they told you in advance and you still signed- a done deal!

[hschulz3]

As an attorney, I will put it simply: you need to have an attorney review this, ASAP. There are multiple potential claims apparent to me.