We've had some doozy deals in the past and this year has been no exception. You name it...survey lines that won't close, estates badly settled, sellers who delay signing, unrecorded Powers of Attorney, no water rights, no right of way to state roads, property held in the title of non existent corporations, blah, blah, blah. Most of them do eventually close but the level of drama of these listing time bombs up until closing is unbelievable and so intense as to make the closing seem completely anti-climactic.
It isn't completely a bad thing that there has been almost an almost total reversal of how mortgages and title searches are conducted but there has been a price to pay. During the boom days there was such a volume of contracts and a rush to get them closed that there were a lot of mistakes made and shortcuts taken. No one segment of the real estate industry is to blame for these woes. There's lots of it to go around. Thankfully many of those who were nefarious and willfully closed these questionable contracts are no longer working in real estate and the consequences of their actions are now born by their employers not their clients risking vast sums of money on real estate transactions.
Much talk is still concentrated on getting buyers qualified being our biggest hurdle but in my opinion, the listings are the true time bombs. What's the answer? As usual, it is probably a little more expense to the seller before listing. Just as pre-listing home inspections can alert a seller to home condition problems that might negatively impact a deal, I'm starting to think pre-listing title work wouldn't be a bad idea. Many of the issues mentioned in the first paragraph are fixable...time consuming and potentially costly, but fixable. Personally, I think the seller would be well advised to consult with their real estate attorney and do a little "wellness check" on the status of the property in a legal sense prior to listing the property. After all, who wants to waste energy and precious time racing around under a time crunch to fix title problems at the very last minute.
Save the drama for the silver screen and stage. Do some pre-emptive research well before settlement and sit back to enjoy the closing of the property as the exciting climatic culmination of your efforts rather that being anti-climactic and a relief that it's all over.
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