Uncovering the Market Value of Vacant Land

There are a lot of details that you will pour over when deciding to purchase land. Whether you’re building the house you’ve always dreamed of for your retirement or purchasing prime land in an up-and-coming neighborhood for a commercial venture, you will need to uncover the market value of the land before you commit to […]

Where to Build Your House on Your New Lot

You’ve undoubtedly seen a whole lot of land on your journey to find the perfect lot to purchase to build your home. When you fall in love with a piece of land, it’s probably because of a variety of factors. Everything from the proximity to your neighbors to the gorgeous views which can make a […]

Reading Topography

As I discussed in my last blog, reading topography can be a bit of an art. Those who deal with it regularly gain the capability to see the contours literally come into focus as a three dimensional pattern. For example, I can look at a topographic map and tell whether the contours are forming the […]

Relief from Topography

My father, ‘Sut’ Settlemeyer was a surveyor for the United States Geological Survey (USGS). He referred to the maps they produced as quad, or relief maps. The universal geologic language of relief mapping is contour topography. Now what exactly is a contour? Simply, nothing more than a step. Just as a flight of stairs is […]