To many home buyers and sellers, one of the most interesting documents in a sale of a property is the survey certificate.  Along with the written “metes and bounds” description and the legal description, the survey also provides a drawing of the actual property.

Sara Woznicki, a 25-year-old Richmond, Va., native, spent most of her young adulthood sharing rentals with two or three roommates. When she realized it was time to go out on her own, Woznicki crunched the numbers and found that a mortgage payment would be about the same amount as paying to rent.