Buying Florida Real Estate? Don’t Skip the Survey

Mon 6th Jul, 2026 | Blog by WWMR, in boundary disputes, commercial real estate, easements, Florida real estate closing attorney, Florida real estate closings, property surveys, real estate due diligence, residential real estate, Southwest Florida real estate, title insurance

Buyers of Florida real estate may be looking for ways to reduce closing costs, and skipping a property survey can easily seem like an optional expense to cross off the list.

After all, if the home or commercial building is already standing, the boundaries look obvious, and a title search is underway, what could a physical survey possibly show that would change anything?

Potentially, quite a bit.

A survey reveals physical property issues that standard title work cannot always catch. Without one, a buyer can close with major blind spots regarding the property’s true boundaries, the exact location of improvements, and whether existing encroachments could trigger a legal dispute down the road.

What a Current Survey Can Uncover

With Florida real estate prices at or near historic highs, a buyer might view a survey as just another cost on top of a long list of upfront expenses that already includes the down payment, lender fees, appraisal costs, title insurance, recording charges, taxes, and prepaid insurance.

Those costs can add significantly to the price of a Florida real estate transaction. For residential transactions, closing costs can approach 2% of the sale price, or approximately $8,000 with recording charges and taxes. Commercial property closing costs can run even higher.

But an up-to-date survey should not be treated as a throwaway expense. It should be considered a standard part of due diligence that adds assurances—and protections—to a Florida real estate transaction.

A current survey may reveal issues involving:

Property Boundaries

A survey confirms the actual boundaries of the property being purchased. That can affect the buyer’s understanding of the lot size, usable land, frontage, access points, landscaped areas, and future plans for the property.

Encroachments

Encroachments occur when improvements cross a property line or interfere with a neighboring owner’s rights. For residential deals, that may include a fence, driveway, shed, seawall, patio, pool improvement, or other structure. For commercial transactions, shared access drives, signs, loading bays, drainage facilities, parking improvements, or other site features may create similar concerns.

Easements

Utility, drainage, conservation, or shared ingress/egress easements can grant others the right to use parts of the property. A survey maps these out visually, showing where the buyer may be restricted from building or developing.

Setbacks and Site Restrictions

Local zoning rules dictate how far a structure must sit from the property line. If a pool, building addition, or commercial parking lot sits inside a required setback, for example, it can derail future building permits, complicate refinancing, or trigger local code enforcement penalties.

Fences, Driveways, Pools, Parking Areas, and Other Improvements

Visual layout can be deceiving. Buyers frequently assume that an existing fence line or driveway marks the exact edge of their property. A survey tests that assumption against the actual public records.

Access and Use Issues

If a property’s legal access to public roads is restricted or relies on a shared path crossing a neighbor’s land, a buyer needs to verify that the legal rights match their intended use before closing.

Legal Description Issues

Gaps, overlaps, or formatting errors in old legal descriptions can cloud title. A survey can confirm that the words written on the deed match the physical parcel the buyer plans to purchase.

How a Florida Real Estate Survey Can Affect Title Insurance Coverage

A survey does more than identify physical conditions affecting the property. It can also affect the scope of the buyer’s title insurance protection.

Standard Florida title insurance commitments typically contain a “survey exception.” This clause explicitly states that the insurance policy will not cover boundary disputes, encroachments, or easement conflicts that an accurate survey would have revealed.

Under Florida law, providing the title insurer with a qualifying current survey can significantly narrow a survey exception by limiting it to issues actually shown on the survey.

Skipping the survey effectively means the buyer may be assuming responsibility for boundary and encroachment disputes that title insurance might otherwise address. If a neighbor demands that a fence be moved or a patio be removed after closing, the title policy may not step in to help.

A buyer may therefore miss a problem that should be identified as part of the closing process and have less title insurance for issues that surface post-closing.

Making Surveys a Routine Part of Florida Real Estate Transactions

Title companies may require a survey before closing, particularly for commercial transactions. But even when a new survey is optional, such as when a cash buyer or residential purchaser may be able to rely on a prior survey obtained from the seller, obtaining a current survey is one of the most effective ways to identify potential pre-closing issues and to maximize the protections available under a title insurance policy.

Choosing to waive a survey is rarely worth the risk. Although it can add a few hundred or a few thousand dollars to closing costs, depending on the property, spending this money up front can provide confirmation that the property’s boundaries, improvements, easements, access points, and legal description match the buyer’s expectations, allowing them to finalize a Florida real estate transaction with greater peace of mind.