Earlier this week, Ryan emailed us and asked for the CAD files of the survey of our site. No problem! I called the survey company and asked for it. Big problem!
At first, they said they NEVER give them out. Apparently an RPR is a legal document, and giving the files would allow someone to change them, which can't be done for a legal document.
Hmm. Upon closer inspection, the document clearly says it's only legal if it's stamped and signed. Surely I can get a file that doesn't have that? So I call back and get someone else. She's a little more friendly and actually looks up my file number. But then she says "Oh, this is a real property report. We don't give out the CAD files for that."
So I asked what people do who are going to be building? Doesn't the architect need a file to start from that shows where the building is going to be on the lot, which they then send to the city when they apply for a development permit? Oh, they get a development permit survey done. We got a real property report. What's the difference? About $1600. $2000 for us, since the RPR we demanded (and almost lost the property over) is useless, so we need to request a new survey.
She promises to ask if we can get a deal since the surveyor was JUST out at the site a couple of weeks ago. She takes my name and number and says she'll call me back.
As an alternative, I contact our realtor. Because the semantics of what to ask for seems like their job to know, right? I don't know the difference between a real property report and a development permit survey, that's what the guy getting 3% of the purchase price is supposed to be telling us. Especially one who has supposedly built several houses.
Aside: We also just finalized the details of the financing last week. So it took over 5 weeks. Significantly longer than the one week our agent said it takes. Only one bank will mortgage bare land. And they won't mortgage all of it, nor will they mortgage it at a decent rate. So we had to use our existing house as collateral for part of it. And then both our house and our dirt needed to be appraised. Again, I don't think the guy who's done this before should be surprised. But he was.
So in response to the issue of potentially needing $2000 for a survey we thought we'd already had done, he tells us that a DPS is never something the vendor provides. The buyer is supposed to do that. The vendor only has to provide an RPR. Well then why did we write it into the contract if he had to provide it anyway?
By the way, the realtor who owns this lot now has a development permit on it (for a too big house). He had to have gotten a DPS when he applied for that. So I'm pretty sure HE knew what we wanted, but only got the RPR because it's a quarter the cost.
So our agent contacted the seller, and 2 days later, a CAD file appeared in my inbox, from our agent. Sweet!
It's been forwarded to Ryan. Hopefully when he looks at it, it's what he needs and there's nothing wonky about it.
Lesson to my adoring fans. If what you need is a Development Permit Survey, don't ask for a Real Property Report. Because they aren't the same.
