What is an ALTA/NSPS Survey
Lending institutions usually require land surveys because they contain vital information about a piece of real estate. They also help you assess the real value of your property and secure your investment. In terms of land surveys, the American Land Title Association (ALTA) is considered the gold standard along with that of the National Society for Professional Surveyors (NSPS).
ALTA’s main objective is to protect home buyers and mortgage lenders who invest in real estate. They insist on high standards when searching land records and preparing insurance documents to prevent land title problems. These surveys contain reports on rights of way and access, lines of possession and improvements along boundaries, encroachments and easements, and water features, among other aspects.
You will want to hire an experienced and expert surveyor to conduct the ALTA/NSPS survey to guarantee that everything meets the ALTA/NSPS standards. Surveying Consultants can help you!
Contact Surveying Consultants at 843-815-3304 Today!
7 Advantages of Using the ALTA Survey Standards
1. Uniform Standard
The ALTA/NSPS standards are the same nationwide. Therefore, it makes it easy for the title company to review the survey and write title insurance on the property. This controls the financial risk for the owners and lenders.
2. Encroachments/Easements Shown
Encroachment is defined as a violation of a person’s property rights when a neighboring property owner builds something on, or over, the person’s land. An ALTA survey can help by showing potential encroachments and plotting recorded easements on the survey drawing. Whether a potential encroachment or physical condition is an actual encroachment or not is a legal determination.
3. Familiarity
All parties in a real estate transaction such as lenders, attorneys, surveyors, and title professionals are familiar with the ALTA/NSPS survey standards. This means that everyone knows what to expect when working together with this same survey standard.
4. Title Research
An ALTA/NSPS survey gives the surveyor the advantage of having the deed research from the title commitment before issuing the final version of the survey. In other standards, this is not required.
5. Title Exceptions
Title exceptions are matters which are not covered by the title insurance policy. Two, or more, such exceptions deal with matters which may be found by an accurate survey of the property; encroachments, for example. Exceptions limit the liability of the title insurer to the insured. Completion of an ALTA/NSPS survey allows the title insurer to remove those exceptions.
6. Consistent Scope of Work
Usually, the hardest part of any contract is determining the scope of work and how it will be completed. The ALTA survey standards provide a consistent scope of work that has been used since 1988 and is frequently reviewed and updated to conform to the latest technology and legal issues.
Surveying Consultants offer ALTA/NSPS Surveying
Surveying Consultants has a group of highly competent land surveyors throughout Hilton Head, Bluffton, and the greater Beaufort areas of South Carolina as well as Savannah, Georgia to complete ALTA/NSPS surveys for your project.
We guarantee that our knowledge and experience in land surveying along with the state-of-the-art equipment and software that we use will be able to produce accurate and reliable data that measures up to ALTA/NSPS standards.
Reach out to us to set an appointment if you want to learn more about the benefits of an ALTA/NSPS survey…