The mortgage person only said I needed a land survey. I dunno if requirements are different in different states. I hope I don't need both :/
If you and the bank do due diligence you absolutely need both.
A chartered surveyor needs to make sure the property lines are correct and properly recorded, and in conjunction with the abstract company make sure you have a clear title that can not be challenged.
The fee sounds right to me. You need to look at this as cheap insurance. A sound bank or mortgage company will not lend you the money without it. This is nothing to do with the state.
If you loose a property and or a tittle dispute without title insurance, of which this is a part, then you could loose the home and still end up paying for it!
My next advice is to remind you that this is only one of a number of scenarios in which you could loose a home and still have to pay back the bank. There are significant limitations to home owners insurance.
The commonest reason for uninsured loss is flood. Home owners policies do not cover flood. For that you need Federal flood insurance. At least 75% of people, and likely more, find they have no insurance against flood after they have a devastating flood. The usual excuse, is that it never happened here before.
The next after that is geotechnical failure. Home owners does not cover the loss of a home due to geotech issues. These happen, especially in Florida. It also happens in the upper Midwest, as this is a glacial retreat area that is geologically very young. In Minnesota insurance against geothechnical failure has been unavailable for some time.
The house next door to me sold last summer and now there are serious geotech issues surfacing. The new owners may well be out that home they just bought.
When buying property you need to be very careful.
You absolutely need those surveys and the price you quoted sounds right.
