mortgage surveys

Mine are. They are full fledge boundary surveys

knud hermanson (spelling?) has a great policy: if he is in the field and a neighbor says they have a mortgage inspection plan, he gladly takes the copy to his truck where he keeps a battery operated scanner so he can have a copy of this most important document.

I have one of those in the truck, as well as an HP multifunction printer/copier/flatbed scanner. Those, combined with my laptop and iphone, make for a mobile office.

As for Ohio, not for the home owner. There is a disclaimer at the bottom that state that it is only for the use of the bank and they shouldn't be relied upon. I've had one client who said the surveyor that had created her tract couldn't come back 10yr later and re-locate her corners because he'd retired and didn't have a metal detector any more. He'd spent the last 4yrs doing nothing but mortgage surveys. How was he doing them without finding the pins? Mow lines and fences probably. I don't perform mortgage surveys unless I've already done a boundary survey on the property and the home owner calls me direct, won't work for a bank. How can I, a real estate agent near hear asked for a price to do the (she was trying to be a one stop shop) and I told her they are all different, she said she used a guy from 1.5hr away who did them for $150 each, didn't matter what they were. I won't start my truck to drive 5 minutes away for that. Even if all the structures, pavement & walks are on the plat of survey the bank won't touch it until their name is on the drawing.

In my neck of the woods, they are not worth the paper they are drawn on. Half of the plat consists of mandated disclaimers stating essentially that they are worthless. They are mostly paper surveys with a quick house sketch. Banks have gotten out of the habit of requiring them lately.

What is a mortgage survey?

Around here we call it a land title survey and it is a full blown boundary survey showing all improvements, building setback lines, utility easements, etc., and it addresses all items mentioned in Schedule B of a current title commitment.

It is worth the paper it is printed on.

Randy

In this neck of the woods, a mortgage survey is meant to be a basic confirmation that a house is on the correct lot and has no major snafus associated with it. Some companies will only do mortgage surveys in their own developments. Not all houses are in developments as we know and some have not been sold for many years, so I guess the companies would rely more on physical evidence such as hedge lines and fences for placement of improvements.

Mine too. In Florida they are called "Boundary Surveys"

Have a great week! B-)

a mortgage survey means different things to different people, especially land surveyors

I posted the question because I have been ask to provide a RFP for an ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey, and the potential client is insistent that Item #1 is NOT to be included.

In my opinion an ALTA without setting irons is nothing more than a mortgage survey

They're not worth anything here (Rhode Island and Mass). The mortgage company usually doesn't understand what they're asking for. I don't do them because they usually are willing to pay around $150. An ALTA/ACSM plan is completely different, we have to certify to everything and everybody that there was nothing missed (think car over a water valve or a manhole paved over). They're definitely not $150.

From the Colorado Dora website as addressed by the board in the survey quorum on January 13, 2012.

"This issue is addressed in Board Rule 6.12 which requires that monuments be set when performing ALTAs, even if removed during construction."

I would advise your client accordingly.

> In my opinion an ALTA without setting irons is nothing more than a mortgage survey
An ALTA without pins is still very much more than what passes for a mortgage survey in many places.

> I posted the question because I have been ask to provide a RFP for an ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey, and the potential client is insistent that Item #1 is NOT to be included.
>
> In my opinion an ALTA without setting irons is nothing more than a mortgage survey

No Item 1 from Table A?
That is a very odd request, but you would still have to satisfy the Minimum Standard Requirements as listed 1 through 8 for ALTA/ACSM (not table A). So yes it is much more than a mortgage survey. Seems to me you would have all the same work involved and the drawing would be just as valuable to the client. Like you did include Item 1 of Table A, but pulled the irons when you left?
Again, odd request, but it is listed as an optional Item in Table A????

Scott

oh, sorry, but in Maine, Massachusetts and several other states, these plans are not worth anything. the few that are correct are rare.

i prepared a subdivision, road layout, monumentation, site plans, as-built plans. the mortgage inspection company reported that the first building was over the lot line. we looked at their plan only to discover they held a PC bound as the property corner, it was 100' from the actual corner.

Be careful, though, about not setting monuments for an ALTA. Even if the client doesn't request that you set them, if state regs require it, then you still have to do it.

They're worth only what they were intended for: to obtain a mortgage - and that's all.

The problems come when other people, (home-owners, builders, fence companies, engineers, etc.), try to use them as boundary surveys.

In Texas they better be. State board demands a boundary survey.

SJ

> a mortgage survey means different things to different people, especially land surveyors
>
> I posted the question because I have been ask to provide a RFP for an ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey, and the potential client is insistent that Item #1 is NOT to be included.
>
> In my opinion an ALTA without setting irons is nothing more than a mortgage survey

There are many reasons, some are even reasonable, for an ALTA without pins.

Did the client share the reason, or were they trying to save $$$?

Microsoft ICE (free) + iphone4a = no need for a scanner