# Lot Line Confusion



## Team Honey Badger (Jul 24, 2018)

Can anyone explain how lot lines work onZillow?

A lot of the properties we are looking at show other homes within the lot lines when you click on the satellite image.

Also, what is “pond” when listed under the water section? As in, a pond I’d tge source of water fir the property?

Thank you,
Amanda


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

If you want to see more accurate depictions of property boundaries you need to look at tax maps for the specific counties. Most now have GIS systems for viewing.

They will be based on actual surveys.


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## shawnlee (Apr 13, 2010)

"Scientists have not agreed on the technical, formal *differences* *between* a *pond* and a *lake*, though in practice, a *pond* is not as deep or large as a *lake*. Whether a body of water is called a *pond* or *lake* usually depends on local conventions."


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Pond is where the ducks swim after the rain. Size varies.


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## kilgrosh (Apr 29, 2014)

Have your realtor contact the listing agent. A pond could literally be a koi pond that someone put into the backyard or a 2 acre spring fed body of water sitting next to the house. I've seen both in listings by me.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Zillow just gives you a rough idea, and is sometimes way off.
If you are really interested in a particular property, have the realtor get you the plat drawing.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

If it is For Sale By Owner, she can email you the plat.


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## Team Honey Badger (Jul 24, 2018)

Bearfootfarm said:


> If you want to see more accurate depictions of property boundaries you need to look at tax maps for the specific counties. Most now have GIS systems for viewing.
> 
> They will be based on actual surveys.


Thank you.


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## Team Honey Badger (Jul 24, 2018)

kilgrosh said:


> Have your realtor contact the listing agent. A pond could literally be a koi pond that someone put into the backyard or a 2 acre spring fed body of water sitting next to the house. I've seen both in listings by me.


Thank you


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## FreeRange (Oct 9, 2005)

Looks like that photo may have come from the appraisal district. In my county, their lines aren't always right on the money. You can go to the court house and look at all the plats and deeds for free. 

I asked our county department of development what made something a pond or just a "water hole" as far as permitting. The lady there said, tongue in cheek, if it's on the map with an official name, it's a lake and has a big permit fee. If it doesn't have a name but it has a dam and holds water all or part of the the time, it's a pond and has a small permit fee. If it doesn't have a name, doesn't have a dam behind it, and holds water all the time, it's a gift from above. lol


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Permit for ponds? Good grief.


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## FreeRange (Oct 9, 2005)

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Permit for ponds? Good grief.


You don't have to have a permit in your county? It's $75 here and that's if the ground will hold water or not. I told dh we just need to help the ground erode a little at a time so it looks like nature made a pond. lol


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Never have lived anywhere that requires a pond permit. 

Jackson County and Travis County in Texas.

Oregon County in Missouri.


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## Maryleo9 (Apr 23, 2017)

I'm in Commifornia where you practically need a permit to breath and build ponds. I don't know the price but really our ponds will be small, seasonal and really just helping out where it's already eroding...then lined with a layer of feed sacks lightly covered with dirt and rocks to hold that water a little longer through the rainless summers.


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## FreeRange (Oct 9, 2005)

This is from the county website:
"Development Permit is required for the following:
Any activity on property requires a permit. (i.e. pool, shed, pond, tank, shop, barn, carport, etc...)"

I assume tank to be another word for pond.

Gee, another 20 miles and we could have been in a different county. This county taxes for every thing they can.


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## shawnlee (Apr 13, 2010)

….and that's why I am leaving commiefornia, my new property only needs 2 permits...septic and if I build high enough to enter FAA height restrictions.

I get the septic and the height one.....septic is easily worked around with a outhouse...property already has one or a composting toilet and it already has a septic. Ponds do require a permit if the dam exceeds 9 feet tall. 

All of those are completely understandable and valid regulations.


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Yes. Tank was the word for pond when I was growing up.


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## shawnlee (Apr 13, 2010)

I am 47, while growing up spending summers on the farm, always being around gardens and hunting etc...…..beginning of next year will mark my start into a homestead style lifestyle on a permanent basis on my own property doing it for most of my own food...…

I think the term now is homesteading or hobby farm......the previous generation were just called farmers and they just called it life or the way it is...…..

From what I see it looks like the 30-50 year olds are preferring to move away from the norm and homestead/hobby farm, even in towns that allow it for a healithier way of life where one raises and processes their own food and also for a simplier style of life that has many more rewards and is much more fulfilling than the rat race of keeping up with the Joneses or being a consumer.


Based on youtube trends/ viewership and views, it is becoming more and more popular.

Some great channels to subscribe to and watch the daily new vids are

Lumnah Acres...….
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_1nZUpPS6jFv5Pn3f85CaA

Justin Rhodes....

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOSGEokQQcdAVFuL_Aq8dlg


Living Traditions....

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_PgChfO-fgSIpIYWD3Ka-g

Homesteady….

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv2Li-PxOya3XCL-St_4DkA

Guildbrook Farm....

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCloswWQLpsnzCy-KrJ6CfPw

Redtoolhouse……

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYznkvWJsClVckj0Xu85_9g


John Suscovich

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9IoNzDZIGhFZ2VGFoWjP-w


....and of course Joel Salatin and the many many vids he is in .

These are a few of my favorites that I subscribed to on youtube and follow the daily updates. They each have a tone of great vids and cover a lot of topics...….plus its way better than almost anything on television, I would rather spend my time watching and learning, than some garbage.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I consider a pond to be a big puddle of water. Ours is about an acre and 13' in the middle. If I can't see all of it or it passes into lagoons or fingers, it is a lake.


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## Team Honey Badger (Jul 24, 2018)

FreeRange said:


> Looks like that photo may have come from the appraisal district. In my county, their lines aren't always right on the money. You can go to the court house and look at all the plats and deeds for free.
> 
> I asked our county department of development what made something a pond or just a "water hole" as far as permitting. The lady there said, tongue in cheek, if it's on the map with an official name, it's a lake and has a big permit fee. If it doesn't have a name but it has a dam and holds water all or part of the the time, it's a pond and has a small permit fee. If it doesn't have a name, doesn't have a dam behind it, and holds water all the time, it's a gift from above. lol


Great info! Thanks so much!


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## FreeRange (Oct 9, 2005)

Team Honey Badger said:


> Great info! Thanks so much!


You're welcome. But the point I was trying to make is that it's pretty subjective. On the county website it says we must have a permit for ponds and tanks, as if they are different. But most people think they are the same thing.

Ask someone in the planning or development department in your county.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

T


Bearfootfarm said:


> If you want to see more accurate depictions of property boundaries you need to look at tax maps for the specific counties. Most now have GIS systems for viewing.
> 
> They will be based on actual surveys.


On-line tax maps can give you an idea but they can still be wrong. Our neighbor even took his survey to the county and asked them to change the on-line info. They said nope, don't need to it is just to give people a general idea where the lines are.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

And of course there’s always the chance that there is a actual mistake.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Ziptie said:


> On-line tax maps can give you an idea but they can still be wrong.


Anything involving humans can be wrong.
I've just seen lots of misinformation on Zillow, and far less on County GIS sites.


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

The only accurate way to determine corners and boundaries is to pay a surveyor to survey and mark them.

I bought a 40. The county had given the seller the approximate latitude and longitude of the corners. I found a survey marker while tramping around on my new property. When the county proposed logging the 40 south of me they used their approximate corners. I had to point out the survey marker or they would have logged some of my land. The approximate corner was 80 yards east of the surveyed corner so all the corners were off 80 yards. The punch line is that the survey marker was placed there by the county surveyor. 

The EPA? has mapped all the bodies of water in my area. They even listed an area that is only wet for a week when the snow melts. There are special regulations prohibiting wells and septic systems close to wetlands. I bet your county building permit department has the maps showing all wetlands on your property.


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## watsonwillam (Nov 28, 2018)

On the off chance that you need to see more precise portrayals of property limits you have to see charge maps for the explicit areas.


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

whats a charge map?


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