A legal description method using distances and directions from a point of beginning to define boundaries.
Why Metes and Bounds matters on the exam
This term belongs to Property Ownership. The questions below are real items from Freehold's bank that use it - each one cites its source.
Exam questions using Metes and Bounds
Every Freehold question shows why the right answer is right — and cites its source.
A metes and bounds legal description identifies a parcel's boundaries by:
A series of distances and directions from a defined point of beginning back to that same point
Reference to a recorded subdivision plat map showing individually numbered lots
Simply township, range, and section numbers drawn from the federal rectangular survey system alone
The property's street address together with its postal ZIP code alone, without reference to any survey or recorded plat
Show answer & explanation
A series of distances and directions from a defined point of beginning back to that same point — A metes and bounds description traces the perimeter of a parcel using compass directions and distances, starting and ending at the same point of beginning, forming a closed boundary.
Source: PSI National Real Estate Exam Content Outline §1 Property Ownership
In a metes and bounds description, the fixed, identifiable starting location from which all boundary measurements begin and to which they must return is called the:
Benchmark
Point of beginning (POB)
Baseline, the main east-west reference line used to establish township lines in the rectangular survey system
Principal meridian, the main north-south reference line used to number range lines in the rectangular survey system
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Point of beginning (POB) — The point of beginning is the specific, monumented starting location for a metes and bounds survey, and the description must trace the boundary back to this same point to close it.
Source: PSI National Real Estate Exam Content Outline §1 Property Ownership
The lot and block (recorded plat) system of legal description is most commonly used to describe:
Large tracts of undeveloped rural farmland that have never been formally subdivided
Water boundaries running along an ocean coastline or a navigable tidal shore, described using metes and bounds rather than a recorded plat map
Federal government land grants exclusively, issued under an old land-patent statute
Parcels within a recorded subdivision, referencing a plat map filed in the public records
Show answer & explanation
Parcels within a recorded subdivision, referencing a plat map filed in the public records — The lot and block system identifies a specific numbered lot within a numbered block on a subdivision plat map that has been surveyed and recorded in the county's public records.
Source: PSI National Real Estate Exam Content Outline §1 Property Ownership
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