01/22

Buying a home can be confusing – i.e., words you’ve never heard of (uh…liens??), so it makes sense how the whole home-buying process can be a bit intimidating.

But that’s where we come in to help!

One of the many things you’ll hear pop up, are plat maps. Your real estate agent will be giving you lots of documents – one you might receive from your title company (ahem, us), could be a plat map.

So, what exactly is this type of map?

A plat shows you how a tract of land in your county is divided into lots. It’ll be drawn to scale and will display the land’s size, boundary locations, nearby streets, flood zones, etc.

Plat maps show the land area. This is usually presented on the scale of a neighborhood or county township. A plot is a piece of land used for a single purpose (a home or a park). So essentially, a plat map records the collection of plots that make up a neighborhood.

On a platted map, you’ll find a “parcel number” that’s been assigned by the county assessor’s office – this number will be in the middle of each property and will appear in large, bold, underlined type. The “builder’s lot number” is assigned to the property by the original developer – and the numbers along the property lines indicate the lot dimensions.

But, not every property is platted!

If your deed uses geographical references (like metes and bounds) then your property is not platted. Platted properties will use subdivision lot numbers as a description.

It is a good idea for potential buyers to check out the lot dimensions and make sure they match with the lot size listed by the real estate website or agent.

Want more real estate tips and guides? Check out Alliance Title’s Blog here.