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You are here: Home » Resources » Articles » Deal-Appropriate Due Diligence: A Guide to ALTA Surveys

May 17, 2021

Deal-Appropriate Due Diligence: A Guide to ALTA Surveys

By Sarah Fonseca

Real estate professionals order ALTA Surveys for different purposes and to satisfy different requirements. The survey may be required to secure title insurance at the closing of a deal, or it may be utilized as a design document for engineering purposes. Several factors determine the cost, lead-time, and complexity of an ALTA Survey.

Articulating Project Scopes

Essentially, the scope of surveying work gets more complicated and takes more time when more improvements exist or are planned for the project. For example, a building with undulated façade and lots of hardscaping and landscaping represents a lot of detailed work for the Surveyor compared to a rectangular-shaped warehouse with striped parking. Informing the Surveyor of your complete scope of work required is step one in ordering the right scope of work for the ALTA Survey.

In this GlobeSt. article, we look at four types of scopes of work and how they differ from one another. I also discuss what survey users can do to prepare prior to ordering an ALTA survey and best practices that could help CRE transactions go smoothly.

Click here to read more.

About the Authors

Sarah Fonseca

Sarah Fonseca

National Client Manager
Sarah Fonseca has over 10 years of experience in the environmental and engineering science service industry. She has authored, managed, and reviewed ALTA Surveys, Geotechnical Services, Zoning Reports, Retro-Commissioning, Feasibility Studies, Energy Audits, Asbestos surveys, Remedial Design/Implementation, Property Condition Assessments, Phase I Environmental Site Assessments, and Construction Monitoring Reports nationwide for a wide range of clientele including CMBS lenders, bridge lenders, regional banks, investors, and developers under ASTM, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae guidelines. She also has extensive experience with discerning conditions of recognized environmental concern and finding best-practice approaches for avoiding or mitigating the financial burden of Phase II and remediation scenarios. She has provided senior-level review and oversight on Phase II work and has interfaced extensively with various regulatory agencies to expedite the process of receiving no further action letters on issues associated with leaking underground storage tanks, dry cleaners, and former industrial sites nationwide.

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