http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7417742.html
Obviously, this is quite concerning for those of us licensed in Texas.
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I appreciate your reply. That was the item I am refering to. Thank you for the
insight. I think the only thing I can say in response would be that in a real estate transaction, a survey is
generally not actually a requirement by a title company, but a lender. I've
always found it strange that it is grouped under title insurance.
Thank
you for your time
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:41:52 -0700
From: rseipel@elp.rr.com
Subject: Re: SurPAC
info-Surveying law
I'm not sure
what you mean by "existing survey law," but I assume that you're talking about
the re-use of residential surveys for closings by title companies; if I'm off
base, please let me know. As far as I know, that particular issue is part of
the insurance code under which the title companies operate and not really
something we can address - we can't regulate, or attempt to regulate, other
industries. As long as the title companies are willing to accept the risk of
using old surveys, then I'm not sure there's much we can do. Remember also, the
title companies generally take exception in their title policies to what a
current survey would show, so they're really not taking on much liability at
all. This particular issue has been talked about for years, and the legislature
and insurance commissioner seem
to look at it as a "cost-saving" issue for the consumer, and they're really not
concerned about you or I.
Bottom line, whether we like it or not, it's an
issue handled by the insurance commissioner and not something we can change,
even if we want to. Since this would be addressed by the Governmental Affairs
committee, rather than SurPac (all we do is collect and disburse funds), you
might want to get with Pat Smith, the Governmental Affairs committee chair. You
can reach him at 512-427-3630 or by email at smithpat@stanleygroup.com. Or, you can reach
me by phone at 915-877-1928.
Bob
C wrote:
Mr. Seipel,
How are you? I would like to inquire about SurPAC efforts
pertaining to the existing survey law. I would like to know if there are any
efforts or plans to have the law repealed or change. I am not sure if you are
aware, but since the passage of the law in 2001, about 70% of the business has
gone away, and in 2 years it is estimated that only 10% of the available
business will remain. That is a 90% DECREASE in business in a 10 year period. It
is sad that an industry survives on the hope that someone loses their survey or
makes a change on it. It doesn't stop there though. People are making changes
all of the time and are not reporting them. Now that Houston and other areas
have incurred hurricane Ike damage, one would be led to believe that there would
be a spike in new surveys. After all, with fences being replaced and decks
repaired, there would be some surveys resulting from alterations to the
property. That is not happening. The number of new surveys for residential properties continues to
go down still. Since people are not buying new surveys for real estate transactions after
alterations have been made, the case can be made that home buyers are being
defrauded. With the massive reduction in new surveys ordered, there is a major
loss in tax revenue to cities
and states, as well as alot of lost jobs. Now is not the time for jobb losses
and less revenues. Based on current sales, if existing surveys could not be
used, this would be a $100,000,000 a year industry. Instead it is a $29,000,000
a year business that is shrinking every year. The state has lost $40,000,000 in
revenue since the law was passed, 1500 jobs have been lossed, and buyers are
being defrauded. Need I go on? I am willing to bet SurPAC would have alot more
donors and support if this law was repealed. I have information I have gathered
and would be more than glad to share with you. I would have rather called, but
no information was available other than your email. I work for a surveying
company in Houston and would be more than glad to rally support to repeal or amend this
law and make this a healthy industry again.
Please reply to this email.
I'd also like to contact you further about it, if you could provide me a phone
number that would be great.
Take
Care
C
Looking at the expenses report attached on the earlier post and the estimated income for 2010 posted on the TBPLS website, it looks like they run in the black without any funding as it is. I sure hope that's true. If it is true, I would guess that Perry only recommended the funding suspension as a a mere political tactic - knowing full well that they don't need the state's funds to operate anyway.
Has anyone at TSPS spoken with TBPLS about this yet?
That is the speculation of one person, who has been known to be a bit of a conspiracy nut. I have a theory that has absolutely no evidence to support it but the fact that our profession and the geoscientist profession overlap in the industry I think is behind it. The reason I would like to stop speculation is that groups like TLTA, TSPE, and such can assist us under the domino theory, but if we are lashing out without evidence, we might burn bridges we need. Someone earlier in the thread asked if TSPS had a message board and the answer is no, we took down the one we had due to the fact that it was not being used by anyone except one person. We have started a blog though that accepts comments and I have a post on it now asking for guidance about what info the members want. it is accessible from the front page of the tsps website but is available to members only. That is so we can have discussions without having everything strewn around the net for everyone to peruse.
James Redmon
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