In buying commercial real estate, there are many things to evaluate to make sure that your property is a good investment. While you may be focused mostly on the details of the building itself, getting a land survey is important for a few reasons.

Knowing the Actual Boundaries of Your Lot

Knowing the exact boundaries of your lot is even more important in commercial land buying than in residential. The reason is that you're more likely to want to build right up to the edge of the property with commercial land. That's both because it's more expensive per square foot to hold land in a commercial zone and because your property needs may change more often as a commercial land owner. You might choose to build additional spaces on your lot, or you may have a long-term tenant who needs additional space adjacent to their rental space.

In either case, you'll want to know exactly how much land you're working with. Property boundaries might not be exactly straight or rectangular, and this can be a problem if you're trying to maximize your space to build a new structure. With a professional land surveyor, you'll learn exactly where you can and can't build if you elect to buy this property.

Learning About Easement Opportunities

A professional land surveyor can also help you get a sense of the property rights that you could buy from neighbors. You might get an easement to build on a piece of your neighbor's land without actually buying the land from them. On the other hand, if through the land survey you learn that a neighbor has some structure that's on your property, you could learn about the opportunities for selling an easement to them to potentially lessen the costs of buying the property.

Understanding Land Rights and Responsibilities

A final benefit of a commercial land survey is learning about what you can and must do as an owner of that property. As far as rights are concerned, you might want to know whether the area is zoned as a commercial property, a residential property, or both. You may also question whether you have the right to build a dock or another potentially restricted structure on this property. And as far as responsibilities go, you might be responsible for power lines, lakes, and other property features that fall partially on the property; it's better to find out now.

Talk to a company such as East Coast Engineering Inc to learn more.