I have had several questions today about the NALTEA National Certified Abstractor (NCA) and National Master Abstractor (NMA) designations. The requirements consist of membership, years of experience, recommendations, agreement with ethics and passing an examination. The exam is a national examination, covering core concepts, such as DOT, Mortgages, Deeds, Legal Descriptions, Name Searches, Tax information and Basic Real Estate Law.  While NALTEA recognizes that each state has it's own set of real estate rules, there are core topics that carry over fro state to state, or have equivalent documents.  The goal behind the NCA/NMA is to identify, at a national level, competence in key concepts, so that when a customer from another state asks for something, we will understand what they are asking for, and can give some guidance as to local customs. For a more detailed list of requirements check the www. naltea.org website