How Are Real Estate Surveys Issued

Davidson, Staiger and Hill, P.C., counsel for Citizens First Savings Bank (Citizens), Port Huron, Michigan, a state-chartered savings bank, has asked the Financial Institutions Bureau to confirm that Citizens is authorized, pursuant to section 401(1) of the Savings Bank Act (Act), as amended, to use a subsidiary to conduct real estate surveys in support of Citizens' real estate mortgage business. Alternatively, the Bureau has been asked to issue a declaratory ruling or order pursuant to section 401(2) permitting Citizens' subsidiary to engage in performing real estate surveys in support of Citizens' real estate mortgage business.

Counsel represents the surveys will be conducted by licensed surveyors who will be either employees of the subsidiary or independent contractors. The surveys will be done in support of Citizen's real estate mortgage loans. A survey is defined as a document that shows the exact boundaries of a property, including lot lines and placement of improvements on the property and is said to look much like a map of the property. A survey is an important element of the real estate mortgage underwriting process.

Because of the broad applicability of the issue, it is the Bureau's position that a declaratory ruling is more appropriate than an order as a vehicle for a decision issued pursuant to Section 401(2) of the Act.