On November 10, 2026, a little after noon, I received a call from Joe asking if I could help him find 3 property markers. He also mentioned that the property was actually his son’s townhouse property. I asked Joe if he had the Property Plat and he stated he did. I wasn’t able to go right then, but told him I’d text him very shortly when I was on my way with my ETA. It wasn’t too long afterwards that I finished doing what I was doing and was on my way. I text Joe giving him a 40 minute ETA.
When I arrived, I met Joe’s wife and she had the Property Plat, which was a tremendous help. Shortly after, Joe showed up and led me to the back of the house. He showed me where he suspected one corner of the property line was. It turned out to be inline and forward of a metal fence post. I had my Equinox 800 so I set the mode to Field 2, turned the sensitivity way down in the single digits and expected a -5 on the VDI (visual display indicator). Property markers are made out of rebar, which is iron and gives a very low tone on the machine. It took a few swings before I got the -5. Joe and I looked at the plat and got the distance for the far west corner. I had my measuring wheel with me so it made measuring the distance easier. After a few false readings, I was able to home in on a -5. I started digging a hole and saw the pink tape that is used to wrap the top of the rebar property marker. Again, Joe and I got the distance for the south marker and rolled it off. Here’s where things got complicated. Since the plat was done, the road in front of the house has gone from a two lane to a four lane highway with sidewalks running on both sides and in our case a metal storm drain had been installed. I wasn’t able to find the 3rd property marker. Joe is going to see if he can get an updated plat from the county and if so, will call me so we can try again. One thing is for sure; Joe’s son’s property extended probably 40 plus feet from where a previous owner had installed a fence.
Joe – Thanks for giving me a call to help. Keep me posted.
Jim
