Buying and selling
A mortgage inspection is not a survey
They cost different money and mean very different things. Plenty of buyers find that out at the worst moment.
Somewhere in a residential closing, someone will say the word “survey.” What actually gets ordered is often a mortgage inspection report, which is a considerably cheaper and much more limited product. Both have a place. Confusing them is where the trouble starts.
What a mortgage inspection report is
It is a drawing showing the approximate location of the house and other improvements relative to the apparent boundary lines, produced primarily so a lender or title company can see whether anything obvious is wrong. Is the house roughly where it should be. Does the driveway appear to cross a line. Is there a shed sitting on an easement.
It is fast, it is inexpensive, and it does not involve setting corners. In many cases the person preparing it does not perform a full boundary resolution at all.
What a boundary survey is
A boundary survey resolves where the lines legally are. Deed research, adjoining deeds, recovery of existing monuments, reestablishment of missing ones, and physical markers set at the corners. It produces a sealed drawing you can record, hand to a title company, or rely on in a dispute.
Side by side
| Mortgage inspection | Boundary survey | |
|---|---|---|
| Corners set on the ground | No | Yes |
| Full deed and adjoiner research | Limited | Yes |
| Can you build a fence from it | No | Yes |
| Useful in a boundary dispute | No | Yes |
| Satisfies most residential lenders | Often | Always |
| Relative cost | Low | Moderate to high |
| Typical turnaround | Days | One to three weeks |
The sentence that matters: a mortgage inspection report normally carries language stating it is not a boundary survey and should not be relied on for establishing property lines or locating improvements for construction. That is not fine print, it is the actual scope of the product.
Which one do you need
Mortgage inspection is probably enough if: you are refinancing, your lender specifically asked for one, nothing about the property looks contested, and you have no plans to build near a line.
Get the boundary survey if: you are buying vacant land, you plan to fence or build, a neighbor’s improvements look close to the line, the property is rural or irregular, there is any hint of a prior dispute, or you simply want to know where your land actually is.
The expensive version of this mistake
Buyer closes with a mortgage inspection. Two years later they put up a fence using the drawing as a guide. The neighbor orders a real survey and the fence is three feet over. Now there is a fence to move, a relationship to repair, and a boundary survey to pay for anyway. The survey they skipped at closing was the cheapest part of that entire sequence.
What to ask
Ask your lender directly which product they require, in writing. Ask the provider whether corners will be set. If the answer is no, you are getting an inspection report, whatever it is being called.