Land Characteristics & Legal Descriptions

Physical Characteristics of Land
1. Recorded subdivision plat map
2. Metes & Bounds
3. Government Rectangular Survey
Economic Characteristics of Land
1. Scarcity
2. Area Preference/situs
3. Production
4. Assemblance
Types of Legal Property Description
1. Metes & Bounds
  Annotations:
  - Metes refers to distance, bounds to directions. Beginning at POB (point of beginning) similar to walk around directions (corner means change of direction) Permanent reference markers - benchmarks actual distance takes precedence over the distance stated in the metes & bounds description
2. Government Land Survey
  Annotations:
  - Established by Congress in 1785 Most common in west/midwest Based on: Principal meridian (PM) north-south longtitude intersecting base lines (BL) east-west latitude Each PM is intersected by a BL each square in the grid is a township (6 miles long, total area 36 sq. miles)
3. Recorded Plats
  Annotations:
  - A map of a subdivision Created by a developer or subdivider when a raw land is subdivided into building lots BLOCK: largest unit within a subdivision LOTS: each block is subdivided into individual LOTS that houses are built on

Resource summary

	Created by Hannah Santiga about 8 years ago