Kent McMillan, post: 378098, member: 3 wrote: While others have nibbled around the edges of Shawn's problem, some of us see the solution. What he really should be contemplating in building a BRAND is something along the lines of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS). I mean the reality is that land title insurance companies don't really want to have their examiners waste valuable time examining survey maps. They just want someone to certify that everything is A-Okay. This is where Mortgage Electronic Survey System comes into play.
Franchisees in good standing will be able to enter their surveys of a particular property into the Mortgage Electronic Survey System (MESS) and then all subsequent transactions will only need to have a certification that "nothing has changed" entered into the record of certifications.
This will allow lenders and title insurance companies to spend vastly less time examining actual surveys and reports of findings and to concentrate upon the activities that they do best, i.e. closings. The value of such a necessary service is potentially in the billions of dollars. You're welcome.
MERS and MESS sound too much like government acronyms. You'll need something more like QualiAssure Survey Checkpoint (R) with a big green check mark in there somewhere, maybe a big green check mark superimposed over a stylelized gold seal. Of course, that is too long, your marketing and social media millenial person will need to figure out something shorter that still tells the story.
Dave Karoly, post: 378116, member: 94 wrote: MERS and MESS sound too much like government acronyms. You'll need something more like QualiAssure Survey Checkpoint (R) with a big green check mark in there somewhere, maybe a big green check mark superimposed over a stylelized gold seal. Of course, that is too long, your marketing and social media millenial person will need to figure out something shorter that still tells the story.
That is basically just a branding detail that a serious businessman like Shawn would plan to hire MBAs and market researchers to advise him on. It will cost him some money, of course, but he will know that you have to spend money to make big money and, in any event, the overarching detail is the Mortgage Electronic Survey System (MESS) service, even if it ultimately is more successfully marketed under the KFC or Jiffy Lube corporate umbrella to inspire consumer confidence.
YOUR HARMONY SURVEY$ TEAM
"We try to be as discreet as possible...sometimes you can't even tell we've been there", Peter 'Digger' Graves, Senior Surveyor
Kent McMillan, post: 378118, member: 3 wrote: That is basically just a branding detail that a serious businessman like Shawn would plan to hire MBAs and market researchers to advise him on. It will cost him some money, of course, but he will know that you have to spend money to make big money and, in any event, the overarching detail is the Mortgage Electronic Survey System (MESS) service, even if it ultimately is more successfully marketed under the KFC or Jiffy Lube corporate umbrella to inspire consumer confidence.
Au contraire, if the average American consumer gets wind this may be government funded survey care then it's game over for this tech startup, if we have any hope at all of getting Wall Street dollars to get this venture off the ground it has to be a tech startup.
Dave Karoly, post: 378120, member: 94 wrote: Au contraire, if the average American consumer gets wind this may be government funded survey care then it's game over for this tech startup, if we have any hope at all of getting Wall Street dollars to get this venture off the ground it has to be a tech startup.
See, that's the beauty part of Shawn's deal. He's getting it ramped up in EAST TEXAS with expansion possibilities to ARKANSAS and SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA. Nothing even close to average about any of those places. They'll see the gold lettering and the Mortgage Electronic Survey System logo and it will be like: "Where do we sign?" That's exactly what a majority of MBAs will tell you is the sort of situation you want for business franchise sales.
Kent McMillan, post: 378121, member: 3 wrote: See, that's the beauty part of Shawn's deal. He's getting it ramped up in EAST TEXAS with expansion possibilities to ARKANSAS and SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA. Nothing even close to average about any of those places. They'll see the gold lettering and the Mortgage Electronic Survey System logo and it will be like: "Where do we sign?" That's exactly what a majority of MBAs will tell you is the sort of situation you want for business franchise sales.
Kent you are onto something here, something along the lines of the Carfax business model. Of course we will need a QualiChek Survey mobile app, stamped and signed paper maps are so 20th century. Buyers could demand the QualiChek Report from their Realtor at each property they visit. This will be a vaguely watered down fuzzy copy of a survey looking thingy. Naturally they will have to accept the EULA which pretty much absolves us from all liability. What could be more American than that?
Dave Karoly, post: 378126, member: 94 wrote: Kent you are onto something here, something along the lines of the Carfax business model. Of course we will need a QualiChek Survey mobile app, stamped and signed paper maps are so 20th century. Buyers could demand the QualiChek Report from their Realtor at each property they visit. This will be a vaguely watered down fuzzy copy of a survey looking thingy. Naturally they will have to accept the EULA which pretty much absolves us from all liability. What could be more American than that?
Other developers of survey BRANDS have already discovered that there is a more or less constant fraction of impaired practitioners of any profession who can be relied upon to sign just about anything put before them if presented in the most persuasive way, i.e. on pay day. So what an entrepreneur like Shawn seeking to get into the Mortgage Electronic Survey System (MESS) market as a major player would want to do first would be to engage a substantial fraction of the impaired practitioners on an as-needed basis.
Naturally, the actual "map" will be merely a means of identifying the property subject of the MESS certificate issued. Just a thumbnail image of the existing map should suffice for "no change" determination purposes.
You guys are wearing your professional/technical/service hats. The real opportunity lies elsewhere.
I'm going to create a nationwide SMO; that's right, a Survey Maintenance Organization. I'll have a Provider Network, surveyors under contract, in every state. My clients will pay a monthly fee to my SMO, which will increase by 20 to 30 percent each year. Whenever a client needs a survey, they call an in-network provider. The client pays the provider a $50 copay, the provider performs the survey and bills my SMO for the service. Of course, in return for my providing a steady stream of clients, I don't pay full price. But the provider does get the $50 upfront. Out-of-network providers simply can't survive.
MathTeacher SMO. Plans to fit every budget. I can't wait to get started.
Kent McMillan, post: 378105, member: 3 wrote: Or, more to the point, not many buyers realize that (in Texas) for a quite reasonable sum they can purchase coverage that will extend beyond the survey exception. That has to be one of the greatest bargains of the entire land title insurance industry.
That is a fact of the industry.
Being able to get a Title Company to actually allow a client to do that is another thing.
They do not want to be holding that much liability.
A Harris, post: 378167, member: 81 wrote: That is a fact of the industry.
Being able to get a Title Company to actually allow a client to do that is another thing.
They do not want to be holding that much liability.
I think I've mentioned that I do a fair amount of work for a few title insurance underwriters helping them evaluate and resolve claims. The coverage to delete the survey exception has been a bonanza for me in that regard.
Kent McMillan, post: 378170, member: 3 wrote: I think I've mentioned that I do a fair amount of work for a few title insurance underwriters helping them evaluate and resolve claims. The coverage to delete the survey exception has been a bonanza for me in that regard.
I've recommended that my clients pay the extra for a full policy and the local plants will not sell them one.
It may be that these particular plants have been hit hard before on claims and the underwriter is not extending that privilege to them.
I have done surveys for the underwriters and a complete policy is always worth the extra.
