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Understanding Types of Property Surveys
One of the primary reasons that buyers obtain a survey for the home they are purchasing is because the lender providing the purchase financing requires that the title company issue a lenders title insurance policy that does not take exception to survey matters. The lender title insurance policy protects the lender, not the buyer. Title companies go further to protect themselves by issuing a statement similar to this "Easements or servitudes, if any, appearing in the public records." as a listed exception to what the title commitment to the buyer covers. As a buyer, it would be prudent to always order a survey when purchasing a home to help identify any encroachments on the property. There are several different types of surveys:

Location Survey
The type of survey most commonly ordered is called a "Location Survey". A Location Survey shows the location of the improvements on the property in relation to the apparent boundary lines of the property. It generally involves a physical inspection of the property and is accurate to plus or minus a few feet. This type of survey will generally cost the buyer about $150 here in Indiana. It should not be used for the purpose of identifying the propertys boundary lines, such as for construction or permit purposes (you'll need a Boundary Survey for that).

Boundary Survey
A "Boundary Survey" is used to identify a propertys boundary lines. In this type of survey, the surveyor will set (or recover) the property corners and produce a detailed plat or map. To accomplish this, the surveyor will research the public records and do research in the field, take measurements and perform calculations. This type of survey is what is necessary for construction and permit purposes, and it can be expensive — possibly even several thousand dollars — depending on the size of the property and how complicated the records are. Most commonly in Indiana a boundary survey will cost you in the $600 to $1,000 range.

ALTA/ASCM Survey
For commercial closings, lenders will usually require a type of survey called an "ALTA/ASCM Survey." ALTA stands for American Land Title Association, and ACSM stands for American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. An ALTA/ASCM survey is a Boundary Survey that must meet certain stringent standards established by these two organizations. If you are buying a house and you plan on doing construction in the short term, such as putting on an addition or installing a fence, it might make sense to obtain a Boundary Survey as part of your purchase closing. That way, you would not be paying for a Location Survey for the closing and then having to pay for a Boundary Survey after closing. You would just need to inform the title company so that they can arrange for the surveyor to perform a Boundary Survey instead of a Location Survey.

Example Location Survey

Example Boundary Survey

Example ALTA Survey

Aerial Shots of your home from a drone
In an ongoing effort to find new ways to utilize technology to maximize the exposure a home gets when I market it to sell, I have purchased the drone below and a GoPro in order to record aerial views of my listings. Click Here or click the drone below to see an example of a video I recorded of the cul-de-sac that I live on.