Blog

Mark Goodman Commercial Partners Title, LLC is dedicated to providing unparalleled customer service, commercial title insurance solutions, and creating great relationships. It is vital that we continue to find ways to execute on these promises to our clients; and with the advancement of social media, we believe we can take our values and ideals to a new level.

Please take some time to revisit our website and take advantage of our social media presence.

I hope you find our blog to be informational and educational. We want to continue to be your Experts in commercial title insurance.

I welcome your feedback.

Cordially, Mark

September 20, 2017 by Mark Goodman Leave a Comment

Plats 101: Taxes & Plat Names

We deal a lot with plats in commercial title insurance transactions. Our plats 101 blog series breaks down the basics of plats. In this article, we’re going to take a look at plat names, and tax considerations when dealing with plats.

Taxes

An important point to note is that when a plat is filed, taxes on the affected land must be paid in full for the tax year in which that plat is being filed. In Minnesota, taxes are paid in May and October. If the plat is filed before those taxes have become due, the taxes will have to be paid in full for the remainder of the year. That can often be a significant bill that is not necessarily anticipated early on in the year, so it’s something important to keep in mind and an expense for which allocation will have to be made.

Plat Names

Plats have to contain specific details, and these details arise out of both statutory and local jurisdictional requirements. It’s important to pay attention to the plat name. Abbreviations are not permitted in plat names, nor are hyphens and other special characters. Furthermore, the plat name should not be a duplicate of an existing plat already of record in the county, nor should it be too similar to any plat already existing in the county.

By way of example, if there is an Anderson’s Addition to the City of Minneapolis, a plat titled Andersen’s Addition to Minneapolis will not be permitted because there is too great of likelihood of confusion. However Anderson’s 1st Addition, Anderson’s 2nd Addition, Anderson’s 3rd Addition, and so forth, are acceptable because these renditions are easy to distinguish among.

When determining a plat name, a search should be done in the county to ensure that there’s not going to be any duplication or too great of a similarity because that could result in a rejection of the plat. In that event, the party creating the plat would have to come up with a new name, and create a new plat.

September 18, 2017 by Mark Goodman Leave a Comment

The Process of Creating a Plat, Part 2

In a recent article, we talked about the initial process of creating a plat. Now we’re going to continue our discussion of that process with part two of our blog series on plat creation.

Signatures

Once the plat is finalized, the next step is to collect signatures and notarizations. Signatures will have to come from all of the land owners, whether they are corporate entities or individuals. If the land owners consenting to the plat are married then the marital status will have to be identified on the plat, and the spouse will need to sign as well. The city council or town board will likely have to sign, possibly the city, township, or county planning commission, possibly the city attorney as well (the roster of necessary signers varies depending on the jurisdiction, to be sure to check on this in advance). The county surveyor and the surveyor creating the plat will also have to sign the plat.

The county auditor or treasurer will have to sign, and in so doing they will certify the taxes payable for the land affected by the plat. Finally the county recorder or the county registrar of deeds will have to sign certifying that the plat was filed among the public records.

Different Jurisdictions

Each jurisdiction will differ somewhat as far as what parties will have to sign to consent to the plat. Be sure you are checking for those requirements before creating the proposed plat and submitting it for review.

September 14, 2017 by Mark Goodman Leave a Comment

The Process of Creating a Plat, Part 1

What is the process of creating a plat? It begins by identifying the land that will be affected by the plat, and ordering a title search, title examination, and ultimately a title commitment for that land. This is necessary because the party who’s going to plat the land needs to know what title matters affect that land. Most particularly, it is important to determine all ownership interests, easements that may cross or affect the land, roadways that run through or around the land, and parties with interests that encumber the affected land.

Surveyor

Once record title matters have been identified, the title commitment will be turned over to a surveyor, who will take the metes and bounds legal description of the land, compare it to the commitment and the title matters that affect the land, and plot everything into a survey that also depicts the intended lot and block boundaries that will appear on the plat.

That survey is what will become the proposed plat. The proposed plat is then passed along to the city or county surveyor for approval. The city or county surveyor will review it and make certain that the subdivisions contained in the plat are legal. Why is this important? Because some cities, towns and counties restrict subdivision of the land. For example, there may be instances when a parcel is not permitted to be less than an eighth of an acre, or some other minimum size. The city or county surveyor will review lot size to make sure it is in compliance with the local requirements. They will be reviewing density of the lots that are described on the plat. They will be ensuring that the plat contains required details and that it meets all of the statutory requirements including size of the page it’s printed on, font size, ensuring that all the necessary parties will be signing it, and so forth.

Work with Your Team of Professionals

Be sure to work with your surveyor to ensure that the plat is filed properly. Surveyors are experienced in creating and filing plats and so will be a useful resource, along with your title company, in helping to ensure that you have the necessary details in that plat, and ensure that it will be accepted for recording without incident.

Read more about the process of creating a plat in part 2!

September 13, 2017 by Mark Goodman Leave a Comment

Important Details in Escrow Agreements

Recently, we’ve been talking a lot about escrow. We’ve covered what escrow is and why escrows are entered into. To finish up our blog series on escrow, here we’re going to talk about some important details to remember when you’re dealing with escrow.

Escrow Details

Here are some important details to keep in mind when dealing with escrow agreements:

The identity of the parties to the escrow agreement, particularly who is being benefited by the agreement and which party is obligated under the escrow agreement to resolve the matters for which funds are being escrowed.
What constitutes an appropriate resolution? An escrow agreement needs to be specific as to what has to happen in order for the escrow requirements to be met.
Alternative resolution. In the event that the party whose funds are being escrowed and that party who is responsible for cleaning up title or resolving the matter that’s the subject of the escrow fails to do so, there needs to be authority for the title company or the escrowee to resolve that on its own by utilizing the funds on deposit.
Provisions for how to disburse remaining escrow funds, to the extent they exceed the ultimate cost of the escrow obligation(s).
It is in no one’s best interests for an escrow to go on indefinitely. There needs to be a termination date set, with instructions to the escrowee on what to do if the termination date is reached and not all escrow agreement obligations have been met.

It’s up to the parties together with the escrowee to negotiate how the escrow arrangement is going to work, and to make sure all obligations and contingencies are addressed appropriately.