President's Message by Karl Knight
I love movies. Are you a movie-holic like me? One of my favorites is Captain Phillips, the 2013 screen adaptation of A Captain’s Duty (ed.2010) by Richard Phillips, the real Captain Phillips, who never gave up while being pursued, captured, and eventually rescued from Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa. At one point during the take-over of his vessel, Captain Phillips encourages his men by reminding them that no one knows their ship better than they ... and for that reason they will survive. How about you? How well do you know your ship? Want to know it better? Want to survive and thrive in this industry? That’s basically the mission of the NCLTA. To help you survive and thrive. If you’re not taking full advantage of membership, consider doing so and getting involved. There are plenty of opportunities and we welcome all with an interest in bettering this wonderful industry. And if you know of someone who you think could benefit from membership, please encourage them to check us out. We have a lot to offer in terms of education and networking, they won’t regret it.
If we only took our queue from the financial headlines of the last month and a half we might find ourselves a little discouraged. Despite implementation of Know Before You Owe (formerly “TRID”), and the Federal Reserve’s mid-December interest rate hike, our industry took these challenges in stride and ended 2015 on a positive note. Then came the “Oil Crash of 2016” sending major markets into a tailspin. Nevertheless, mortgage rates have remained steady and still are setting record lows not seen since the 1960s. And now we hear from at least one source that mortgage rates may be headed lower still! Could another residential boomlet be around the corner just in time for Spring? Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
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Forms Update by Karl Knight
It as unanimously decided by the board that the NC Approved Forms page is going to become password protected. Information regarding access to members is included in your renewal letter.
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NCLTA’s 2016 Annual Convention will be held at Wild Dunes on the Isle of Palms, SC. This is a favorite destination for NCLTA members and we hope that you will plan to attend. Save the dates now: September 15th through the 17th. NCLTA once again will embrace the casual flair of the Low Country and plans to incorporate resort casual dress code to the Annual Convention. Plan for a dressed-down, more casual Annual Convention with content worthy of your participation! The schedule is shaping up and we’ll announce those topics and speakers as soon as they are confirmed. NC Land Title Association has reserved a block of rooms at The Boardwalk Inn for $249 per night, plus lodging and sales taxes and a $11 per night resort amenity fee. The amenity fee includes admission to the Fitness Center, complimentary wifi in guest rooms, one hour of tennis court time per room and one bucket of golf balls per guest at the Links Golf Range, access to the resort pools, complimentary daily newspaper delivery upon request, and free valet or self-parking. The cut-off date for making reservations is Thursday, August 25th; however, previous experience has shown that the room block sells out quickly, so you are urged to make your reservation as soon as possible!
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Group Name/Code
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North Carolina Land Title Association / 3H82QE
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Group Rate
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Guestrooms: $249 daily ++
*$11 group amenity fee bundled in online price
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Online Reservation Link
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NC Land Title Online Booking
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Toll Free Reservation Line
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(888) 778.1876
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Group Cut Off Date
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Attendees must book their reservations prior to August 25th, 2016.
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NCLTA 2016 Membership Renewal Invoices have gone out. We apologize for the delay, but we have included some new benefits for our members in 2016 and needed a little extra time to put those in place. The forms page on the website will now be password protected in order to secure access to members only. Also, our members will now have the option of being included in a public directory on the NCLTA website to increase marketing exposure. More detailed information on these two items are included in your renewal packet. Also, sponsorship information for the NCLTA cocktail reception at the 2016 RPS Annual Meeting is included. Please consider becoming a sponsor of what has become a valued tradition! The 2015 reception was a huge success with record attendance. As always, thank you for your membership and NCLTA will continue to work for for you throughout 2016 and beyond!
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Legislative Update By David Ferrell
The 2016 “short session” is scheduled to begin on Monday April 25, 2016. The focus of this year’s legislative session will be on tweaking the State Budget, which was adopted last September. Bills that made the “crossover deadline” last session, meaning they passed at least one chamber by a particular deadline, are eligible for consideration. Finally, legislation recommended by 2015-2016 legislative study committees are also eligible for consideration in the 2016 legislative session.
The legislature is returning to Raleigh about a month earlier than they have in past years. Both House and Senate leaders say they want this session to truly be a “short” session, with a goal to adjourn around the end of June. The 2015 legislative session was a longer-than-expected session, with the legislature adjourning a session that began on January 14 on September 30, 2015. The 2015 session became protracted due to disagreements over the state budget, Medicaid reform, economic incentives, and other issues.
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Minimum Standards Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys
 “You set bounds to peoples, cities, great kingdoms: Without you every field would be disputed”. - From Ovid's Festivals - Book II
Image above depicts a boundary stone featuring a bust of Terminus. - Source - Wikipedia
Greetings NCLTA members! I hope 2016 is off to a wonderful start for each of you, your organizations, and your clients. NCLTA has been hard at work to stay on top of changes to the industry and to ensure that our membership is well taken care of and informed. I believe that 2016 is going to be another big year as we continue to see “Know Before You Owe” (aka TRID) implemented and enforced and what changes come out of the North Carolina legislature.
In case you missed it, February 23 was the annual Terminalia Festival in honor of the Roman God Terminus. Check out the 2016 Festival, www.terminaliafestival.org, held in Leeds, England. Who is Terminus you ask? I'm glad you did, because he just so happens to be a very important figure in the world of title insurance. Terminus was a God who protected boundary markers. Whenever the Romans would set new boundary markers, sacrifices would be offered to Terminus so the markers would be sanctified. Just as in modern times, boundary markers were an important part of Roman property rights and culture because they defined the boundaries between properties and communities.
So what does Terminus have to do with title insurance today? Well February 23, 2016 marks a new beginning in survey standards used in the title insurance industry. This day is the effective date of the new Minimum Standards Detail Requirements For ALTA/ NSPS Land Title Surveys. NSPS is the acronym for the National Society of Professional Surveyors and they are the entity created after a merger with the ACSM (American Congress on Surveying and Mapping) in 2012. While the changes are not significant, there are a few changes. Most noticeably among the changes is the shift in the name of the standards. We will all probably start to see the name change appear on commercial surveys in the coming months. To learn more, a good summary of the revised standards are outlined in an ALTA Article dated February 23, 2016 by Gary Kent that I have included on the NCLTA website newsletter. Another great resource is the FAQs article appearing on the ALTA website on February 16, 2016 addressing such issues as the transition period, revisions to 2011 ALTA/ ACSM surveys and a few other notable items.
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From the Editor
It is such an honor to serve as the editor of the NCLTA newsletter. I hope that the newsletter will continue to be a valuable resource for each of our members and to those with an interest in the title industry. If there are topics that you are interested in hearing about or articles that you wish to contribute, please let me know. Our goal is to keep or members educated and informed. I am always available to you as a resource for any questions that you may have about the newsletter or NCLTA. Thank you for your membership!
Ben
Benjamin V. Ipock
Attorneys Title
8000 Regency Parkway, Suite 165
Cary, North Carolina 27518
Phone: (919) 861-1425
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