Legal Land Descriptions and Measurement: Measuring Real Property

If a rectangular lot has an area of 14,400 sq. ft. and a depth of 120 ft., what is the frontage of the lot?

14,400 divided by 120 equals 120! The frontage is 120 front feet.

625,086 sq feet is how many acres?

14.35 acres

A lot is in the shape of right triangle. The base of the triangle is 62 ft. and the height is 90 ft. What is the area of the lot?

2,790 sq ft

Blake just purchased a 2.5-acre vacant lot of land for $500,000. What was the price per square yard he paid?

2.5 acres x 43,560 sq. ft. = 108,900 sq. ft. Next, you had to convert square feet to square yards by dividing the total square footage by 9. 108,900 sq. ft. ÷ 9 sq. ft. = 12,100 sq. yds. $500,000 ÷ 12,100 sq. yds. = $41.32 per sq. yd.

A home measures 80 ft. by 40 ft. The garage is 15 ft. by 15 ft. What is the total livable area of the home?

2975 sq ft

A room is 20 ft. long by 15 ft. wide and 10 ft. high. What is the volume of this room?

3,000 cubic feet

Ben wants to carpet his bedroom. He measures it as 270 sq. ft. When he gets to the Carpet Store, he finds that they sell carpet by the square yard. How many square yards is Ben's room?

30 sq yards

A client is looking at a property with a main bedroom that measures 20 ft. by 15 ft. What is the area of the bedroom?

300 sq ft

Rafe is considering purchasing a 2,400-sq. ft. home for $320,000. What price per square foot would he be paying?

320,000 ÷ 2,400 sq. ft. = $133.33

One township contains how many sections?

36 sections

Jim buys a 400 sq. yd. lot of land. What is the size of Jim's lot in square feet?

36,000 sq ft

How many sq feet in an acre?

43,560 sq ft in an acre

Andy is trying to figure out if he has enough space in his rumpus room for both a pool table and a ping-pong table. The room is 15 ft. long by 30 ft. wide. What is the area of the room?

450 sq ft

Which of the following is an example of an informal reference to a property?

4617 Jade St., Portland, OR

Sonya's has a rectangular lot that is 12 ft. on one side and 19 ft. on the other. Find the perimeter.

62 ft Remember, each side must be counted twice, since you are adding up each side. 12 ft. + 12 ft.+ 19 ft. +19 ft. = 62 ft.

Your friend, Jenny, has a small farm just outside of Woodstock Township. She knows the dimensions of her property are 1,386 ft. by 451 ft.

625,086

You are helping a friend list her home, but she is unsure of her acreage. She knows her property is 770 ft. x 524 ft. Using this information, how many acres is the lot?

8.42

You are helping a friend list her home, but she is unsure of her acreage. She knows her property is 770 ft. x 524 ft. Using this information, how many acres is the lot?

9.26 acres

Tyrel is looking for a new condo in Condoville. His agent provides him with several listing options, and Tyrel ends up trying to decide between two condos. They are the same price, but one condo has 150 more square feet than the other. Analyze how this could influence Tyrel's decision.

Buyers are often MORE likely to choose a property with more square footage (if at a comparable price).

There are two lots side by side on Birdman Avenue. They have the same depth of 200 ft., but each has different frontages. Lot A has an area of 40,000 sq. ft., while Lot B is 25,000 sq. ft. What is the total frontage of both Lots A and B?

Correct! 40,000 sq. ft. ÷ 200 ft. = 200 front feet. 25,000 sq. ft. ÷ 200 ft. = 125 front feet. 200 front feet + 125 front feet = 325 front feet. The total frontage of both Lots A and B is 325 ft.

Charlie purchased a lot that measures 800 ft. wide by 500 ft. long. The purchase price was $850,000. What was the price Charlie paid per ACRE?

Correct. Charlie paid $92,592.59 per acre. 800 ft. x 500 ft. = 400,000 sq. ft. Since there are 43,560 sq. ft. in an acre, we'll divide the total square footage by 43,560. 400,000 sq. ft. ÷ 43,560 sq. ft./acre = 9.18 acres, so the lot is 9.18 acres. We'll then divide the total price by the acreage. $850,000 ÷ 9.18 acres = $92,592.59/acre. Charlie paid $92,592.59 per acre.

Marika, your client, is considering a property that is 250 ft. by 475 ft. How many acres is the property?

First, find the square footage. 250 ft. x 475 ft. = 118,750 sq. ft. Then, divide by 43,560 to get 2.73.

Sophie purchased a lot that measures 300 ft. wide by 500 ft. long. The purchase price was $275,000. What was the price per acre?

First, you had to find the square footage using the dimensions of width and length given. 300 ft. x 500 ft. = 150,000 sq. ft. Next, you had to convert the square footage to acreage. 150,000 sq. ft. ÷ 43,560 sq. ft. = 3.44 acres Finally, you had the figures you needed to find the price per acre: Answer: $275,000 ÷ 3.44 acres = $79,941.86 per acre

Square footage is used in real estate as way to measure the size of a building.

True

What is the legal description of a property?

a detailed description of a property that is distinct and precise enough to distinguish it from all other properties

What is a monument?

a fixed landmark, whether natural or human-made, used as a reference point in a metes and bounds legal description

A surveyor references an object when reporting the elevation of a property. If you wanted to go see that object for yourself, what would you look for?

a permanent, metal benchmark

When finding the area of an irregular lot, what should you do first?

break it up into regular shapes

Which survey system uses longitude and latitude lines to map property boundaries?

government survey system

Sophia looks up the legal description for a property she is going to list. She finds a map of a subdivision and a set of numbers that identify the specific lot she's selling. Which legal description method is she referencing?

lot and block

Range columns run parallel to:

meridians

Rubie is a licensed land surveyor. She selects a monument as her point of beginning and defines the boundaries of a property in terms of distances and compass directions, finally returning to the point of beginning. What type of legal land description has she created?

metes and bounds

With which type of land description does a surveyor indicate direction in degrees, minutes, and seconds?

metes and bounds

Which of the following terms refers to a surveyor's or developer's map that identifies lots and blocks?

plat

What is a survey?

the process and physical product of finding and measuring the boundaries of a piece of real estate, including the location of improvements