August 9th, 2010:

I was told that I don’t need a survey if I’m paying cash for a home in a platted subdivision. True?

No. If you purchase a property for cash that has an existing encroachment (or two) you could have real problems when you try to resell in the future. Yard buildings, driveways, fences, easements, swimming pools and even roof overhangs can all be sources of frustrating encroachments. 
 
We once saw a case in which the house itself was built 15 feet over the neighbor’s property line. Had the buyer elected to pay cash without the benefit of a survey, they could have ended up with a lot of cash tied up in a property that they could neither sell nor even borrow against. Their equity would be frozen indefinitley.
 
One other option. Many title insurers wil accept a prior survey. That is, so long as the seller is willing to sign a sworn affadavit at closing stating that nothing has changed to affect the boundaries since that prior survey was drawn.