[Incbiz440]

I just closed one $1.1MM deal with title issues and have another getting ready to close that had 32 fraudulent liens on title.

The issue is that neither the title company nor the lender satisfactorily do their jobs to clear these and I want to make it clear that you sometimes HAVE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY TO GET INVOLVED YOURSELF!!

On one of these deals the title company just sent one email to the state of Virginia regarding a tax lien, and got no response and that's all they did in a month.

I thought we were ready to close and found out that they had no pay offs. They basically did nothing and neither did the lender.

So I had to get together with the borrower and daily went to deal direct with the entities that had placed the liens.

Typically when you order a pay off you want a pay off date that's a bit later than the estimated closing date.

What happened in this instance, the lender did nothing and we missed the closing date three times over a month and a half.

It took the borrower and my efforts 4 months to finally get everything negotiated to get final pay offs that allowed us to close.

The lender basically thought the file was dead.

So bottom line, make sure you take the bull by the horns and get involved with any title issues that may show up on title....you can't trust the title company or the lender to do their jobs properly.

Another issue I'm facing with another deal now....the state of Ohio has 8 liens that do not belong to this borrower. All title did was fax the request to the state attorney general for a clear pay off. I asked them what's the expected time to get a response and they said 30 working days.

After 5 weeks, I finally got pissed and told the borrower to take the title company request (I got a copy from the title) and personally go visit the attorney generals office to get a clear release.

After we got that the title underwriter didn't want to clear the title as it was a large dollar amount. After fighting with them over several days, I told to them to give the file to another underwriter. That underwriter cleared the title.

Once again sometimes you have to tell them how to do their jobs.

Don't be afraid to do whatever it takes to get something to the finish line.

Reach out if you have any real estate issues.

Is any of that weird? I've helped clients clear tax liens, negotiated with landlords to sign LL waivers, paid off judgements with cash outs. Either you want to close the deal or you don't. I wouldn't depend on the lender or title company or whoever else to clear issues.

Maybe it's me, but I can't see much repeat business if a broker's only value add is cut and pasting app data.

[Incbiz440]

In real estate it's typically the responsibility of the title company and the lender. The title company usually sends out the demand letters for pay offs. And the lender usually stays on top of the title company.

True, but to your point... sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do.