unit 8 Flashcards
A square foot is equal to
144 square inches (12 inches × 12 inches).
Property descriptions by metes and bounds is the oldest method of describing property. As such, property descriptions used today could date back to
when Texas was under the rule of Spain.
Which equals one square mile or 640 acres?
Section
Legal descriptions tend to prefer neat straight lines from point to point, regardless of describing a square, rectangle, triangle or even a smooth circle. When might a property boundary end up being a squiggly line?
When describing a property line drawn down the center of a creek bed
When a township map references Section 16, what is it referring to?
The school section
A unit of measurement used almost exclusively in farm and ranch deals is the “chain.” How long is a chain?
66 feet (four rods, 100 links)
Under what circumstances does a legal land description not return to its point of beginning (POB)?
Property descriptions always return to their POB (closure)
What is the effective life of a datum or benchmark?
Datums and benchmarks are considered permanent markers that can be (and have been) used for more than 100 years.
A legal description refers a prospective purchaser to a document that shows land divided into lots, with streets, easements, and lot dimensions mapped out. Which legal description was used to describe this property?
Recorded subdivision plat method
- Which one of these isNOTa standard unit of measurement used in Texas land transactions?
Furlong
The bearing ofMOSTproperty boundary lines in Texas is
northbound or southbound.
What land features tend to warp property descriptions in surveys?
None
Which describes a datum?
A point, line, or surface from which elevations are measured or indicated
A square yard is how many square feet?
9 square feet
The term “sections” is used throughout the real estate industry, and throughout Texas, but is the term of any practical use in urban areas?
Yes, section numbers are still key to locating property on maps, even if descriptions eventually are broken down into much smaller units.
Sales agents are warned that metes-and-bounds descriptions “are highly complicated and should be handled with extreme care.” Who should be called in to help with complex descriptions?
A surveyor who can take (or retake) precise measurements
Because each city or town is permitted to establish datums, the elevation point
is decided by the U.S. Geological Survey and is the accurate local measurement of height above sea level in New York Harbor.
In the metes-and-bounds description reading “beginning at an iron rod set for the corner; thence 90° 0’ 0” E 180.0’; thence 0° 0’ 0” S 160.0’; thence back to the POB,” the parcel identified is
a triangle.
Which may be a natural object, such as a tree or boulder, or a man-made object, such as a steel rod or stake driven into the ground?
Monument
In any dispute involving the location of boundaries based on monuments, what is the typical resolution?
Natural monuments take precedent over man-made monuments.
The land on either side of a principal meridian is divided into six-mile-wide strips by lines that run north and south, parallel to the meridian. These north-south strips of land are called
ranges.
