Never be too quick to declare victory against the Fates prematurely.
We were sittng and eating lunch when we saw a man we did not know enter our back yard and start setting markers out in the yard. We went out and not so politely told him to get off of our property. He explained that he was a surveyor setting out the boundaries betwewen our property and the lot next door. The problem was, he was putting the stakes out in my back yard.
We had a strongly worded confrontation. I basicly told he was trespassing and if he continued I would defend my property. I told him at the very least, he had neglecteed to inform us who hw was and what he was doing.
When the dust settled it turned out he was a surveyor hired by the people who bought the property next door. It turns out that when the previous owner had his well drilled, he drilled it on the property next door. What a maroon!
When we were purchasing the house, I had specifically asked the previous owner where the boundary was between the twp pieces of property was, and he pointed out a ditch and said "Just figure the other the other side of the ditch", there being a three foot deep four foot dee ditch four drainage across the south sid of the property. Planted on my side of the ditch is a line of mature trees, obviously planted at the same time the ditch was dug. Also the trees were non native species.
I happen to know a little about the law, and was sure that the ditch , having been accepted as the boundary between the two pieces of property for atleast twenty years, could be claimed by me by the principle of Adverse Posession the State of Washington would grant me title to the slice of land. As a last resort.
Since I now have new neighbors, I didn't want to get off on the wrong foot. When I met them they seemed like reasonable people. I figured we could work something out.
I aproachd it from the angle that neither one of us had created the problem, and we needed to work together to find a mutually acceptable solution. Things went back and forth for several months. I finally came up with a solution where each of us ends up with the same square footage.
We are doing a boundary line adjustment. It is of course a very complicated and expensive process, But it needs to be done properly. I don't want any complications down the road. It was imperative that I gain title to the well.
So here it is six months later and the solution remains some undefined distance in the future,
The guy that did their survey won't work with me. That's OK with me. The dude told several lies to the people next door, so I dont trust him any further than I could throw his transit.
Turns out the Olympic Penninsula is undergoing a great expansion right now,nand every surveyor in the county is wrapped up for months. After a couple of months I ffinally signed a contract with a surveying company. The process is hideously expensive, unreasonably complicated, and takes too much time.
SO I am now obligated to follow through with the process.
In the end it will cost me something like ten grand, but my conscience is a hard master.
At least I will be able too sleep at night and look at myself in the morror.
