Home : Blogs : Michelle Gordon : Michelle's Blog

My plea to listing agents!

Good morning listing agents!!!

Yes, I do list homes..........but the majority of my business comes from buyers. I have ran into this problem more times then I care to, and it is getting worse with the current market we are in. Here is the problem:

Home is offered for sale; we put an offer on the home based on list price and comps from the area: the offer gets excepted; we get title work (in Grand Rapids, Michigan) with in 10 days. The seller now realizes there are liens on the home that he/she was unaware of and can not afford to sell the home for the agreed upon price, or old liens that need to be removed and this becomes a timely process because they have to get the proof the liens have been paid and we close late.

So I ask why don't you get pre-title work done when listing the home? Would this not save a lot of time and embarressment? I know Patrica Caston's office, LandAm will do one free of charge, so it is not even a cost issue in Kent County.

So my plea is ......................... please do not just trust what your seller is telling you, as I am sure they feel what they have told you is true and to best of the knowledge, and they have the best intentions. However, it takes 2 minutes to order pre-title work.

Maybe there is something I am missing....but to me this could help the process go a lot smoother????

Posted by Michelle Gordon on 10/01/2008 09:10 AM

Comments (21)

Title Work in the ActiveRain Channel

title work, grand rapids, michgian, selling your home

This post has been included in Michigan Information Kent County, MI Information
Post is included in group: Greater GRAND RAPIDS, MI Real Estate
Post is included in group: Kent County MI Real Estate
Post is included in group: WCR Western Michigan Chapter
Post is included in group: "Whacked"!!!
Post is included in group: Women's Council of Realtors on Active Rain

21 Comments on My plea to listing agents!

OCT

2008

I'm not a realtor, but I was just talking to a group of about 20 realtors two days ago and this subject came up. The room was somewhat divided though. Some said they absolutely do, and others acted like it was unnecessary. My opinion - it should be done - as you stated its free ... don't be lazy right?

The listing agent could do there on pre-title search which can be very time consuming depending on the county and whether or not they have internet access or how updated it is. In our state, the closing must take place with an attorney of which the buyer chooses. The listing agent could always recommend to the seller that they have their attorney do a prelim search, same with the payoff and those prepayment penalties that can sometimes reek havoc on deals.

Good point, but some times in this slow market a lein hits after the orig. search.

Bob

Steve - I agree with you.........here in Michigan this is a very easy process.

Laura - it sounds like there is more involved with title work in you area then here, but still probably good advise to give to your sellers, huh?

I have not really run into this problem. Most of the attorneys we use (here in Illinois we use attorneys with almost every transation) pull title immediately after clearing Attorney Review / Inspection (anywhere from 5-10 days after initial acceptance)... so any clouds show up with enough time to resolve them prior to closing.

We order prelim title when we list the house. Ask the listing agent if they have it before you write and maybe ask them to order it then if they have not. They are foolish not to as it wastes their time and money as well.

Bob this is very true..........however all of mine that I have run across have been there a while. The worse one was a home that was given to the seller in a divorce settlement, but also included was the lien for another property that she was unaware of. She thought she was going to walk with about 60,000 grand when she excepted our deal, but ended up walking with $1,000.00

Can we talk the banks into doing this as well? I just had another bank pull out of a transaction (total of 3 now) because maybe they were going to go negative? We get an accepted offer, send in certified funds for EMD, title work gets completed, we get water reads, we pay for City inspections, then the bank takes forever to close deciding later that they can't sell at that price.

The last house our accepted offer was within $500 of the asking price...

Jean, very good comment, I will start asking if it has been done!

Alan, what if you wait till the offer and find out the seller can not afford to sell the home.........as this has come up! Can the attorneys offer the pre-title at the time of the listing?

Jared, I have not had this happen to me yet...................but wait a while I am sure it will! Dang....I bet you were so mad!!!!!!

This is a good suggestion. In New Hampshire, it seems that title work is done near the very end and there are a lot of surprises. Good to know that this is not the way it is done everywhere.

Joan, this used to be the case in Grand Rapids as well, 2008 GRAR changed our contract to say it needs to be done with in 10 days of a signed agreement. However with the above situations you can see it needs to be done at the point of the listing.

Michelle, yeah. It's pretty ridiculous when a seller, especially a bank accepts an offer, you pay for all of your due dilligence and certs, then they decide not to sell. At that point you're faced with suing, which probably won't do much or just walking away and eating the costs.

Chances are there isn't a problem with the title but on occasion it happens and if it means doing a little work before the listing to save a lot of work, energy and aggrevation after the fact, then it seems rather silly not to be sure!

Great topic for a blog. Its surprising you are getting conflicting opinions. I would think this is simply part of being a good and thorough agent. I always get it started ASAP. I say better safe than sorry. Do it up front! Great post!

Betina

In Maryland the buyer chooses the title company and even though the lien certificate is pulled and pre-title done the buyer may not choose to work with the sellers title company. And, there is a cost to pulling lien certificates in Maryland and right now title companies are having as hard a time as agents are. I got a short sale listing yesterday and just based on preliminary work there is a problem with title. The seller's title work was never recorded after she purchased the property. God, only knows what else is to follow!!

The laws do vary from state to state. However the one common thread is that all this information is a matter of Public Record. If you have a good relationship with your LandAmerica title company they can help find the records you need in order to determine the best way to bring the transaction to the closing table.

LandAmerica Offering Mobile Closings across the State of Michigan and the US.

Very good point Patricia......it is of public record!!!!

June, WOW buyer chooses huh? Not sure how to get past that one? Can you do split closings? We can here.

Betina, I would also think this would be good business practice.............however I guess we can see why it is not done in other states..............but in Michigan you so can!!

Jared, I am sure there is something in the very small print that covers them on this issue! You know if you read that 25 - 40 page contract!!!!!! : )

Michelle, I'm sure you're correct. Bank addedendums are almost laughable they include so much protection. I'm sure they don't have to do anything and have rights via the contact to do whatever they want.

Michelle I agree it is an easy option to to order the pre title work up front and avoid any suprises. A recent closing of mine turned up seven leins in the pre title work of which the seller was only aware of two.

Sarah! 7 leins!!!!! That must have been a mess to deal with! What a surprise for your client! Dang!

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?