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Pennsylvania Title Insurance Agent About Accuracy On The Internet!

By
Title Insurance with Patriot Land Transfer, Inc.

 Pennsylvania Title Insurance Agent About Accuracy On The Internet! What does that title mean...what is this post about? What have we found about the accuracy of information on the internet!

Ever since I joined Active Rain almost 4 months ago I have wondered about what information I could really trust on the internet.

As a company dealing primarily with the handling and reporting of information, important information especially for the real estate owner and lender, the internet itself promises many new and interesting ideas and ways to cut costs and speed up service.

As title insurers, however, there is much that we have found unreliable...too risky to trust for title insurance purposes...too unproven on which to base a factual report! I'm talking about 'good info', 'interesting info', perhaps even 'anecdotally nice to know info'...but just not accurate enough for title insurance purposes.

One of our goals as title insurers is to provide efficient, risk free, and litigation free home ownership to all consumers!

It is not my intent to single out which web sites I'm speaking about, but rest assured they're ones you and I use quite frequently in the course of our businesses...and I'm NOT referring to Active Rain of course.

 These sites deal with such things as 'mapping info', 'assessment info', 'property value info' and various other data base type information...these sites are proliferating at rapid speed and new ones appear every day in an effort to capitalize on 'internet traffic'.

Let me give you just one small example...On several sites when you punch in the exact address of Patriot Land Transfer, Inc., an address that has been used for over 5 years now, you will not see an accurate map showing our precise location...some show our location almost a mile different than our actual site...and this is after we reported errors to two different data base services who assured us that the errors would be corrected...that was 6 months ago...and you guessed it, it's still wrong!

So this is a 'traffic control' post!

 Please continue to explore these new and interesting sites, but be aware and scrutinize them before you take such information as accurate fact! We can learn a lot on the internet, but we need to be careful about whose information we can trust, and how much confidence and credibility to place on these sites.

I guess the old adage, "consider the source", is still true...and still good advice!

Personally I have found that the information I have derived here on AR from reading various posts and comment threads has proven to be very useful and very accurate...and more and more as I trust the various sources here, I am able to be more receptive to learning and trusting even more.

The team of over 55,000 real estate professionals here at AR provide about the most useful and accurate real estate information available to the consumer or the real estate industry on the internet or elsewhere.

  

 

Jo-Anne Smith
Oakville, ON

Fran, I agree with you completely and have often thought of this when surfing the internet for information. It would be good if everything placed on the net was 'date and time' stamped so that we had a better idea of how current the info is. As far as the information goes, I take everything with a grain of salt and consider the information source before totally trusting it.

(-:

Jo 

Nov 03, 2007 11:05 PM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

But, but, but,  Fran.  If it's on the Internet, it must be true! ! ! !

If it's on the Internet, you can use it.

If it's on the Internet, you can copy and claim it.

If it's on the Internet, you must be there.

YOU are in the wrong location.  I'm sure the map is correct.

Nov 03, 2007 11:33 PM
Missy Caulk
Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI
Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate
Fran, have you ever heard of niteowlplus ?
Nov 03, 2007 11:36 PM
Fran Gaspari
Patriot Land Transfer, Inc. - Limerick, PA
"The Title Man" - Title Insurance - PA & NJ

Jo: Your approach is the only right way to deal with it!

Lenn: LOL, Don't laugh that's the way many look at it...scary sometimes!

Missy: Is that a disease prevalent among bloggers? And what do you take for it? LOL

Thanks,   Fran

Nov 04, 2007 01:09 AM
Barbara-Jo Roberts Berberi, MA, PSA, TRC - Greater Clearwater Florida Residential Real Estate Professional
Charles Rutenberg Realty - Clearwater, FL
Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater, Safety Harbor
that is so true, you have to remember where your information is coming from - good reminder! people tend to think because they see it in print it is automatically true -
Nov 04, 2007 01:54 AM
Daniel J. Brudnok, REALTOR
Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Fox & Roach, REALTORS - Exton - PA License #RS-225179-L / Delaware License #RS-0025038 - Downingtown, PA
SRES, e-PRO,ABR,GREEN,CSP

Fran,

Your are correct....I don't know how many times I have tried to find a business,address and have been given something way off.....frustrating and time consuming to straighten out.

Just as an FYI, if you need any remote settlement agents, I have been doing for over 18 years and I am in Downingtown.

Have a great day.

Nov 04, 2007 01:06 AM
Fran Gaspari
Patriot Land Transfer, Inc. - Limerick, PA
"The Title Man" - Title Insurance - PA & NJ

Barbara-Jo & Bill: That's really true...and scary!

Dan: For directions, I find Street Atlas USA & Microsoft Road & Trips to be the best! There's not much to go around these days settlement wise...My Son in Law does most of our closings, and I try to keep him busy!!! I'll keep you in mind, however!

Thanks,   Fran

 

Nov 04, 2007 03:13 AM
Margaret Woda
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - Crofton, MD
Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation

Just because information is available electronically, doesn't mean it's accurate.  The same is true of GPS Systems - sometimes they're right and sometimes they're not.

By the way, I used to own a title company, and I value that opportunity because it took a lot of the mystery out of the settlement process for me.  I look forward to reading more of your posts, as you take the mystery out of settlements for other ActiveRainers!

Nov 04, 2007 07:35 AM
Fran Gaspari
Patriot Land Transfer, Inc. - Limerick, PA
"The Title Man" - Title Insurance - PA & NJ

Margaret,

Thanks for the very nice comments! I always enjoy your writing as well!!! THanks,   Fran 

Nov 04, 2007 08:20 AM