After I moved into the office at Williams, Hatfield & Stoner in Fort Lauderdale, Gene took me downtown and showed me how to flip through the title company ARB (arbitrary) books to do research. They had all sorts of bits of maps pasted into the pages. I thought that was pretty neat, way back in 1970 or so.
I was thinking of that when I went to Fidelity Title this morning for a conference with a client on a large shopping center with a lot of easements that should have been abandoned years ago but slipped through the cracks. We all sat at the conference table, and on the wall at the far end was a computer screen I’d guess 36 inches by 66 inches. On the left side of the screen was the color pdf of my survey drawing I had sent them, and on the right hand was the recent aerial of the same site from the Pima County MapGuide. The title officer could zoom in and out, or select any document using their proprietary software and instantly put that on the screen. We were impressed. Very impressed. No wonder they said they no longer need a print of the survey drawing.
I have been sending out my pdfs in color since last year, and the title people love them. So much easier to read than black and white.
Dammit, Bruce, there you go making it easier for the thieves to get into the cookie jar. Those are our cookies.
Well, it didn't help Fidelity or those folks from North Jersey in the link that Chuck S provided this morning in a post.
As for color, the Parish Planning department here got excited and appreciative when plats showed utility lines in various colors.
> I was thinking of that when I went to Fidelity Title this morning ...
I guess my question would be: "Who would ever buy title insurance from Fidelity?" I can think of at least three or four other national underwriters who I'd rather have insuring my own land title.
> I guess my question would be: "Who would ever buy title insurance from Fidelity?" I can think of at least three or four other national underwriters who I'd rather have insuring my own land title.
The trick is finding an underwriter that actually sell an Owner's Policy. All of the title underwriters I have worked with are merely insuring the lender against a loss. An Owner's Policy is a completely different animal.
From Stewart Title:
Title insurance for property owners, called an Owner's Policy, is usually issued in the amount of the real estate purchase. It is purchased for a one-time fee at closing and is valid for as long as the owner or his heirs have an interest in the property.
Like I said, this is usually NOT the commitment being underwritten by title companies.
> The trick is finding an underwriter that actually sell an Owner's Policy. All of the title underwriters I have worked with are merely insuring the lender against a loss. An Owner's Policy is a completely different animal.
Actually, there is a huge difference in the manner in which the various underwriters handle claims made on policies they have written. That was what I had more in mind than the actual policy itself.
Some underwriters will fight you to the death with their flying monkeys before defending or settling even perfectly clear and legitimate claims.
> As for color, the Parish Planning department here got excited and appreciative when plats showed utility lines in various colors.
Not in California, black ink only: "It shall be legibly drawn, printed, or reproduced by a process guaranteeing a permanent record in black on tracing cloth or polyester base film."
I avoid using color in my PDF surveys because I don't always know how hard copies are going to be generated. Black and white works well on any printer and use line types to differentiate line features.
That's why I send out both. I include the date in the file name: Wilmot Plaza ALTA survey 03-06-2015.pdf and Wilmot Plaza ALTA survey 03-06-2015 color.pdf
That's a great idea. I have just recently started incorporated using color in my PDF's, but not on all of my surveys.
It does help with making certain things stand out.
> It does help with making certain things stand out.
I don't know how I could sensibly present a drawing like this without using color:
That is a good use of color there my friend. Quite a bit of information there.
I always enjoy your posts, Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Like they used to - multi sheets. Plan Sheet, topo sheet...
Color is a much better way to go, but you still have to be careful about how much info goes on the sheets, and oh ya, remember that they are not recordable (here anyway).
> Like they used to - multi sheets. Plan Sheet, topo sheet...
My institutional clients don't like multiple sheets for boundary and topo -- they want it all on one. Some of the maps on campus (UC Davis) get pretty crowded, but I don't think the people who really need to use them -- the design folks -- aren't using the paper sheets anyway, and are happy to turn layers on and off as needed.
No color on recorded maps here in CA, either, but then I've never needed to record an ALTA or topo.
"As for color, the Parish Planning department here got excited and appreciative when plats showed utility lines in various colors.
Not in California, black ink only: "It shall be legibly drawn, printed, or reproduced by a process guaranteeing a permanent record in black on tracing cloth or polyester base film.""
Good luck with that Mike!! To comply with this requirement you MUST either hand draw the plats with India ink on mylar or have them photographically reproduced.
This rule demands "archival quality" prints. You cannot provide such a copy with any plotter that I am aware of. The inks today are NOT archival inks like India ink.
Remember taking a hand drawn mylar plat and cleaning it with rubber cement thinner? Did not hurt a thing. After a day or two of drying time you could wipe the plat down with a damp cloth with no harm. That is "Archival Quality". No plotter ink that I have seen in the passed 5 years meets those standards nor are ANY of them certified to be archival inks.
It appears that the California standards are WAY out of date. Nothing that they have gotten that was produced on a plotter meets the "guaranteeing a permanent record. One coffee spill and the plat is gone.
We used to have the same rule in my area. They made changes in the rules. Still, some want photo paper copies with chartex backing. Finding a house that still does photo copies and chartex lamination is getting harder and harder every day.
