Iowa Code Title XIV. Property [Chs. 555-594A] § 561.4. Selecting--platting

The owner, husband or wife, or a single person, may select the homestead and cause it to be platted, but a failure to do so shall not render the same liable when it otherwise would not be, and a selection by the owner shall control. When selected, it shall be designated by a legal description, or if impossible it shall be marked off by permanent, visible monuments, and the description shall give the direction and distance of the starting point from some corner of the dwelling, which description, with the plat, shall be filed and recorded by the recorder of the proper county in the manner provided in sections 558.49 and 558.52.