Rant on.
What? You can not do a title survey for $200 anymore?
Can't travel 200 miles for $200 anymore?
Can't give a 2 for one discount anymore?
You have left a trail of bad surveys that we have to deal with for a long time.
F you.
Rant off.
Randy
They have a "no closing, no cost" policy, so apparently they don't mind working for free. Lowball that!!!
-V
> What? You can not do a ...survey for $200 anymore?
I'm not sure you can say that a $200 survey was a "good faith" effort. To a certain degree such surveys should just be ignored. Unfortunately you cannot always ignore the actions that property owners may have made in reliance on such surveys. But sometimes perhaps you can.
There is an old Oregon case, Satchell v. Dunsmoor, from the 1940's. Seems that in 1938 a surveyor had given a price of $300 (perhaps $5 -6k in today's dollars) to run a boundary. The property owners refused to pay that sum and eventually the surveyor was induced to run a compass line, on a Sunday, for $20, on the understanding that such line would be tenative only. Naturally not much time passed before some of the adjacent owners claimed this tenative line as the true one and the matter went to court. The court ruled against the "true line" claimants in part because they all undeniably knew that a proper survey would cost $300, and they had only paid $20, so therefore they couldn't really claim that the survey was a good faith effort at finding the correct boundary.
I think my favorite is: ""No Closing, No Cost" Policy"
When the survey is worthless, I guess that works!
N
Norman, that is funny!
No closing, no cost kind of infers a financial interest in the outcome of the job doesn't it? Is this permitted in MA?
That "no closing, no cost" policy would be cause for board action in all the states I'm licensed in.
I would say no, CMR prohibits that sort of thing.
Well, these are mortgage plot plans after all. Garbage in, garbage out.
-V
Since they knew that this tentative line was not the true line, they were precluded from agreeing (unwritten) that it was by the Statute of Frauds.
"(5) Solicitation and Compensation. A Registrant shall avoid improper solicitation of professional employment.
(a) A Registrant shall not falsify or permit misrepresentation of the Registrant§s own academic or professional qualifications, or those of the Registrant§s associates.
(b) A Registrant may be disciplined for being found in violation of the state ethics law by the State Ethics Commission.
(c) A Registrant may request, propose or accept contracts for professional services on a contingent basis only under circumstances in which the Registrant§s professional judgment would not be compromised and the contingency agreement is in writing and complies with 250 CMR 5.02(5)(e).
(d) Regardless of the negotiated compensation, the Registrant must provide services that comply with accepted professional standards.
(e) A Registrant shall establish clear and unambiguous contractual arrangements with clients. At a minimum, contractual arrangements must state a description of the proposed work, fees and expenses to be paid, and schedule for completion."
The new MA rules and regs....
I like the note on the sample plan: "Accurate measurements were made..." blah blah...
For $145, how many measurements were made and who made them? Just splitting that 2 ways isn't even $75 each.
There's also a note on the home page that if you request field notes, they have them.
They'd be pretty hard times for me to work THAT cheap.
"Regardless of the negotiated compensation, the Registrant must provide services that comply with accepted professional standards"
That pretty much sums it up in my opinion. Don, from my interpretation of the new 250CMR 6.0, Mortgage plot plans would now fall under "surveys of lines affecting property rights". Do you agree? Certainly, MPP surveys do not meet the standards. I'm assuming this was intentional?
Will you be at the MALSCE convention in a few weeks? I'm interested in the 250CMR review on Saturday.
-V
The state board in Texas would either put them out of business or make them change their policy.B-)
I am afraid it doesn't pass muster in NH either
Lan 501.03 Standards of Conduct.
(j) The licensee shall:
(4) Not accept work on a contingent fee basis;
Low-Ballers>VH
I plan on attending but I haven't seen a program yet...
Low-Ballers Measured Distances
I seriously doubt that he 'measured' anything based on the plot plan. I haven't ever had a distance fallen on an even number to the hundreth....EVER!!! seems like he is full of you know what. He is a SCAB!!
Wow, $145 is a lowball fee even for an MLI around here.
Low-Ballers...
Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em. :-/
I've seen more dimensions on sales brochures than they have on their "document" B-)