The closing is scheduled for next week. I am a Massachusetts real estate attorneywho examines titles as part of my set of responsibilities for the closing. The property is in the the Seller's name. That is not a problem. What is a problem is a relatively new mortgage on the Premises which is still outstanding. I contact the attorney who closed the loan into the Seller. He has a check written to a mortgage company which is no longer in existence, What is more troubling is that I have found an assignment of the mortgage in question, on record, which is to a lending institution which has been "gobbled-up"by a larger institution. This new institution's record on the loan appear nonexistent.
There are title issues here, and everybody is anxious because my title report continues to showi the mortgage in question as being outstanding, and, at least from a title point of view, in the name of the assignee which no longer exists independently.
THE GOOD NEWS: It would appear that we are going to be able to close, and we are going to be able to close "on time". What saved the day is the little "Mighty Mouse" called an Owner's Policy of Title Insurance. The Selle purchased Owner's Title Insurance at the time of his closing.
A quick call to the Title Insurance Company has furnished positive reinforcement. The Title Insurance Company will stand behind this situation. They will indemnify me and my Title Insurance Company. They will specifically undertake to get this situation straightened out, even if it means they need to begin Court proceedings to quiet Title. This is what they receive the premiums for; they know that and they have "stepped up to the plate".
Without this policy, a timely closing could not occur. That affects you, the Realtor involved in the transaction, directly. So, the next time you are at a closing, and your customer "whines" about the high cost of Title Insurance, and why, after all, is it necessary, you tell them about how Title Insurance can save them and their sale. Better yet for you Realtors out there who may get the listing when your Buyer decides to sell, have that warm feeling that "title issues" will never get in the way of your sale if the Owner's Policy is purchased at the initial closing. A satisfying thought on a bleak day in February.
Comments(36)