by Matthew Brady

When it comes to property lines, a fence doesn't always mark the spot.

Terri Ellis, now an Angie's List member, learned that lesson after moving into her Weddington home. The lot was supposed to be a 1-acre rectangle, she says. After hiring a licensed surveyor, she learned her lot extended 35 feet beyond the back fence and up to 6 feet beyond the side fences. "It was a big chunk of property," Ellis says.

Every land transaction should include a professional survey, says Andrew Ritter, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors. "It saves trouble today, tomorrow and down the road."

Owners of existing homes too often rely on imprecise anecdotal evidence, such as what their real estate agent might have told them, says Jason Wylie, owner of highly rated County Surveying in Denver.

When he marks property lines, neighbors may get upset if they think he's incorrect. He explains his measurements, sometimes even marking their corners for them. "We try to be friendly with everyone and help the neighbors see why we're doing it where we are," he says.

Lori Gattuso, co-owner of highly rated Stronghold Fence Inc. in Waxhaw, says her crews encounter confusion as well. "A lot of people think their property is bigger than what it is," she says.

Homeowners associations typically require fences to follow the property line, so her crews work from a survey map and build the fence accordingly, sometimes to the dismay of neighbors.

"They'll come out and say, 'This is where I mow up to. You can see my mow line.' When we show them that their property from the survey is 2 or 4 feet in, they are quite surprised, sometimes angry," she says.

Boundary confusion also affects new construction. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department reported last year that hundreds of new homes have been built too close together, with developers placing HVAC units illegally in the required setback.

In the Winget Pond subdivision in southwest Charlotte, for example, the city has granted homeowners variances on a case-by-case basis.

The No. 1 reason people don't hire a surveyor is cost, says Brian Passarelli, an highly rated real estate agent with Wilkinson & Associates. He advises all his clients to do it, but few want to spend the $300 to $400 if the lender doesn't require it.

In older Charlotte neighborhoods such as Dilworth and Myers Park, he says, a survey is essential because the standards were less precise when those areas were developed and lines may have become blurred through the years.

"I start to get really nervous when they don't do it with an older home," Passarelli says. "I feel those risks are greatly amplified."

Ellis' neighbors didn't dispute her survey, but they asked her to postpone moving her fences. This spring, 10 years after defining her property lines, she moved her last fence. She also hired highly rated Rhyne Land Surveying of Charlotte to survey the land again.

"We wanted to make absolutely certain that the fence was along the lines that it should be," she says. The final survey cost $275. "It was worth every penny," she says.