The Title Company; It's About More than Insurance (Part III)

First, let me apologize for the long silence between posts in this series. My excuse? Moving. I moved from Maine to North Carolina in April, and the months leading up to the move were crazy.  Not quite as crazy as my days working as a title processor, but close.

But I'm beginning to get settled in, and am ready to pick up where I left off in this series.
In my last post, the processor had sent the title order information to the abstractor to do a title search. This can take anywhere from a day to several days depending on the complexity of the title.  But our processor isn't just twiddling her thumbs while waiting for it to be completed. 

*During this time, our processor is gathering information, contacting the town or city to get the status of taxes paid or unpaid as well as the water and sewer departments to order a final reading so that all unpaid charges can be paid at closing. The processor also contacts the real estate agents involved, usually the listing broker at this point, to get all pertinent information such as broker fees, home warranty amounts, earnest money deposit amounts, seller's mailing address and other information such as condominium association contact information as it applies. Agents can help the closing process out by trying to include as much information as possible at this point. Any additional fees, seller paids,etc. should be indicated so that the processor is aware in advance of HUD preparation.
Depending on the title company, the processor may also contact the new buyers with information such as brochures on title insurance and get information such as proper spelling of names and how they want to take title of the property.

Since the processor is working on many title orders at once, by the time they have collected this information chances are the title search has been returned by the abstractor.
Upon receipt of the abstract, it should be reviewed by someone familiar with real estate titles. Sometimes this is an in house attorney and sometimes this is the processor themselves.
In the next installment, we'll see just what the processor is looking for in the title abstract and why.



*activities are based on a purchase closing. Certain items such as the status of taxes are also gathered for a refinance closing, but the fact that there is no transfer of property means that many of the steps are not required for a refinance closing.