Who orders a survey?
Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 11:05PM Surveys In a purchase, most title companies will automatically order a new survey, unless requested to rely on a seller’s survey. In most cases you are free to select your own survey company, but you should let your title company know early in the process. At Closing Express we routinely orders new surveys from local vendors at competitive rates. Survey companies with established title relationships will wait for closing to get paid. If you are selecting the survey company you may be asked to order the survey yourself and you will most likely have to pay for the survey in advance or at the time of service.
If you pick the survey company, it is likely you will need to pay the survey company in advance or at the time of services. Make sure to provide the company name and telephone number to your title company so they can provide proper certification languages for the survey. Generally a survey must be certified to the buyer, the lender, the title agency and the title insurance company. If the certification language is not included or you change lenders, your survey company may charge additional money to update the survey certification language. Survey companies with established relationships with title companies generally update survey certifications as courtesy and no additional costs are incurred.
In a refinance most title companies will ask you for a copy of your old survey. When they ask for a survey, this means you should expect to be required to sign an affidavit, at closing, which confirms the survey accurately reflects the property. If you are unwilling to sign this affidavit, let your title company know this as soon as possible so a new survey can be obtained in time for closing.
When refinancing it is possible to close without any survey. If you don’t not have a survey you should ask your title company if they can rely on a copy of the Owner’s Policy you received when you purchased your home along with an affidavit which states that you have not made any improvements or alterations to the property. Ask about this early. If you do not provide a survey many title companies will simply order a new survey and pass the cost onto you at closing.
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Closing Express is a full service title company, owned and operated by attorneys, Gregory Damiani and Michael Weissman who have over 30 years of combined real estate experience. We service the entire State of Florida and are available "in perosn", at your office or ours, in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Our main offices are located in Southern Florida on University Drive, bewteen Coral Spings and Plantation, about 20 minutes west of Fort Lauderdale. Click here to view a map of our location.