Due Diligence - ALTA Survey

It should be a mix of yourself and counsel. Every ALTA Survey will be drafted using a title commitment report, which includes the legal descriptions of the property and a list of exceptions on Schedule B that reflects specific items, defects, or encumbrances your title insurance policy will not cover or protect you against.

Your counsel will review the survey and title commitment together. They should be confirming the property boundaries and legal description matches what you're under contract for, verifying there is direct access to a public road or enforceable easement rights, confirming whether the presence of any of these exceptions (recorded easements, utility rights, restrictive covenants, etc.) and information within those underlying recorded documents will impact your willingness to purchase the property. You should be working with your counsel to understand any issues that may arise from this review. Do not ever rely on a surveyor's interpretation of things for findings.

Separately, you should be reviewing the survey to confirm as much as you can as well. Do the parcels and overall property area align with what you underwrote and are expecting to purchase? Are there any right-of-ways or roads separating your parcels? Do the easements cross buildings, structures, parking, development areas, or required access areas? Are there any encroachments or non-conformities from current structures? Buildings, fences, retaining walls, signs, that are crossing property lines or easements? Do setbacks, building lines, parking counts, etc., line up with required zoning items? Is the property in a flood zone and need flood map overlaid? Do you need wetlands delineated on the survey?

Every property will be different, but it's important to look at the survey, review it with the map on the survey and understand the markings on it. Think of your business plan and any potential impact those items that are marked may cause.

Debt side here, but also have experience as both contractor/developer. Enough time in the seat on both sides of the table to have bad experience related to surveys. 

Echoing the excellent advise of the two posts above and emphasizing a few points in particular:

• Never rely on the surveyor or the title commitment exclusively. The survey should have the legal description and it should match Exhibit A of your title commitment. Reject it if it doesn't. Don't skip this part!
• Don't rely on the surveyor's interpretation of things... they have insurance to cover their mistakes, but those mistakes could have enormous implications for you that exceed any payment from liability. 
  • Ask me how I know. 

Additional comments:

• ALTA standards are exactly that: standards. These are published (link) and you should be somewhat familiar with them (even if its just to keep them printed in your desk drawer) so you can know what you *should* be receiving.
  • These are the minimum standards... but you can ask for more! Don't be afraid to ask for review of certain things and inclusion in the final product. There is even a list of standardized optional extras (link) you can request.
  • I cannot emphasize enough how ordering a survey should not simply be limited to "Hi Survey Co, I'd like an ALTA survey please."
    • There needs to be coordination between who is ordering the survey and who is reviewing it for conformity to the underwriting or project plan. 
• To the greatest extent possible... just do the most basic check of the thing when you get it. 
  • Not saying you need to do fieldwork and reproduce the measurements, but if you are able to take the survey to the site and put it on the hood of your car - do it. Make sure it gees and haws with what you see with your own eyeballs.
  • If you can't, check a basic measurement against Google Earth to just make sure its ~close. 
    • Ask me how I know. 
• Confirm that counsel has gotten printed copies of every exception in Schedule B-2 of the title commitment
  • This schedule may often say something like "subject to restrictions as imposed by those listed on Section XAE-12 on page 3, book 41 of County records" or some such foolishness. 
  • Make sure your attorney has gotten a written copy of these pages and ensure the survey addresses any such limitations. 
  • If your property goes anywhere near older parts of town with railroads... don't skip this part. It may be laborious and time consuming to go through all these on older properties, especially industrial or former industrial sites. #worthit
    • Yep, ask me how I know. 
• You can also get ALTA surveys at various points in the process. Sometimes that may make sense. 
  • You can get a survey pre-construction on undeveloped land to confirm boundaries and easements and setbacks and all that. 
  • You can get a survey done once foundations are poured to confirm they are in the right place before you start going vertical.
    • Ask one of my clients how they know lol
  • You can get a survey done once all buildings are finished to confirm they meet plans and specs.
    • These are good to keep on the shelf after completion so you have access to a final "what do we actually have" record. Not a "what I hope we built" plan. 

TLDR - surveys are one of those diligence things that require thinking and careful review to get your money's worth. They can be one of those things that you get, let the attorney review, and put in the file and don't think about ever again. More often than not - that will work out well. But when it doesn't... it's probably gonna be bad.