The Real Estate Closing Process

real estate closing process

The Real Estate Closing Process

The Escrow Closing or Real Estate Closing Process is not as complicated as it seems, with a little help anyone can understand and feel comfortable with the process.

The escrow closing process follows certain steps in a certain order, once you understand these steps, the process becomes clear. Several of the steps are part of every closing; others are optional depending on the circumstances.

Real Estate Contract

The Real Estate Closing process begins when you make an offer by signing a purchase contract, and the offer is accepted by the seller. When this step is completed several people get involved in your closing.
The Title Company begins to research the title of the property. An appraiser and surveyor may also start working on your closing. These happen in the background, all preparing for the signing or closing.

Title Commitment Review

After signing the Purchase Contract, the title company will prepare a Title Commitment. The Title Commitment shows any liens, judgments and other problem with the real estate title or ownership.

It is also a commitment to insure the property in your name at closing, subject to any terms contained in the Title Commitment. Review it carefully and call the title company with any questions.

Disclosures Review

Before closing, the seller is required to make disclosures to the buyer. These disclosures vary from state to state but include any leases that may be on the property as well as other things the seller is aware of.

If there are building on the property the disclosures should also include any problems or required repairs on the buildings.

If the disclosures show significant problems you have a certain amount of time to cancel the deal. The exact amount of time you have to cancel is spelled out in the purchase contract.

Appraisal

An appraisal is performed by a licensed appraiser, who uses recent land sales, to estimate the market value of your land.

If you requested an appraisal on the property, you should receive it before signing. If you do order an appraisal, the purchase contract should be conditioned on the property appraising for at least the purchase price. The appraisal is optional.

Land Survey

A Survey is often part of the real estate closing. The Purpose of a real estate survey is to mark the property boundaries, and map them in relation to the surrounding properties.

If there isn’t an existing survey on the property, and the boundaries are not marked, you need a survey.
Surveys are often required when you build a house on the property. If you plan on building in the future, this is good time to get a survey as the seller may pay all or part of the cost.

Property Inspection

The inspection is your last chance to look at the land again before you buy. This is usually scheduled just before signing.

Depending on what you are buying this could be very important. If you are buying land only, it may be less important, but if you are buying land with buildings, equipment, etc., this is the time to make sure everything is in working condition.

Real Estate Escrow Signing

Finally, it’s time to show up at the designated place to sign the Real Estate closing documents. This is sometimes referred to as the Escrow closing, although the entire process is part of the escrow closing. The previous steps may happen without your knowledge, and explains why it takes so long.

You will need to bring the required money to close. The amount should be certified funds (cashier’s check, wire, etc.).

This is the time to review all the papers and have any questions answered. This is your last chance to have any concerns addressed by the seller or realtor. Once you sign the papers the land and any problems are yours.

Document Recording

After signing, and after the money has been cleared, the title company will record the deed, transferring the property into your name.

If you borrowed money to purchase, the mortgage documents will also be recorded. After the recording is completed, you become the official owner.

Possession

Date of possession will be sometime after Recording. It is usually an agreed number of days after the recording, as agreed in the purchase contract.

Do I need title insurance, when buying a Utah home?

buying home

Question: Do I need title insurance, when buying a new home in Utah?

Answer: Construction of a new home raises special title problems for the lender and owner.  You may think you are the first owner when constructing a home on a purchased lot.

However, there were most likely many prior owners of the unimproved land.  A title search will uncover any existing liens and a survey will determine the boundaries of the property being purchased.

In addition, builders occasionally fail to pay subcontractors and suppliers.  This could result in the subcontractor or supplier placing a lien on your property.

Again, lenders want to make sure the property has clear title.  Purchasing owner’s title insurance will protect you against these potential problems and pay for any legal fees involved in defending a claim.

I’m refinancing, why do I need title insurance?

need title insurance

Question: I’m refinancing, why do I need new title insurance?

Answer: When you obtain a new loan, the lender will require title insurance.  Even if you recently purchased your home, there are some problems that could arise with the title.  For instance, you may have incurred a mechanic’s lien from a contractor who claims they were not paid or you may have had a judgment placed on your house for unpaid taxes.  The lender wants to make sure their interest will be secured and the title to the property is clear.

You will not need to purchase new owner’s title insurance when refinancing.  Owner’s title insurance is purchased at a one-time fee and lasts as long as you own the property.

The Eagle Policy offers additional coverage

eagle policy

The Eagle Policy of Title Insurance

The Eagle Policy provides more coverage than any previous policy offered.  Some of the new coverages are completely new and never before offered by any title insurer.

This policy includes the following coverage:

  1. Your Title is lost or taken because of a violation of any covenant, condition or restriction, which occurred before You acquired Your Title, even if the covenant, condition or restriction is excepted in Schedule B.
  2. You are forced to correct or remove an existing violation of any covenant, condition or restriction affecting the Land, even if the covenant,condition or restriction is excepted in Schedule B. However, You are not covered for any violation that relates to:
    1. any obligation to perform maintenance or repair on the Land; or
    2. environmental protection of any kind, including hazardous or toxic conditions or substances

    unless there is a notice recorded in the Public Records, describing any part of the Land, claiming a violation exists. Our liability for this Covered Risk is limited to the extent of the violation stated in that notice.

  3. You do not have actual vehicular and pedestrian access to and from the Land, based upon a legal right.
  4. Someone else claims to have rights affecting Your Title because of fraud, duress, incompetency or incapacity.
  5. Someone else has an encumbrance on Your Title.
  6. Someone else has a lien on Your Title, including a:
    1. lien of real estate taxes or assessments imposed on Your Title by a governmental authority that are due or payable, but unpaid;
    2. Mortgage;
    3. judgment, state or federal tax lien;
    4. charge by a homeowner’s or condominium association; or
    5. lien, occurring before or after the Policy Date, for labor and material furnished before the Policy Date.
  7. Any of Covered Risks 1 through 6 occurring after the Policy Date.
  8. Your Title is defective. Some of these defects are:
    1. Someone else’s failure to have authorized a transfer or conveyance of your Title.
    2. Someone else’s failure to create a valid document by electronic means.
    3. A document upon which Your Title is based is invalid because it was not properly signed, sealed, acknowledged, delivered or recorded.
    4. A document upon which Your Title is based was signed using a falsified, expired, or otherwise invalid power of attorney.
    5. A document upon which Your Title is based was not properly filed, recorded, or indexed in the Public Records.
    6. A defective judicial or administrative proceeding.
  9. Someone else has a right to limit Your use of the Land.
  10. Someone else has an Easement on the Land.
  11. Someone else claims to have rights affecting Your Title because of forgery or impersonation.
  12. Someone else has rights affecting Your Title because of leases, contracts, or options.
  13. Someone else owns an interest in Your Title.
  14. The violation or enforcement of those portions of any law or government regulation concerning:
    1. building;
    2. zoning;
    3. land use;
    4. improvements on the Land;
    5. land division; or
    6. environmental protection,

    if there is a notice recorded in the Public Records, describing any part of the Land, claiming a violation exists or declaring the intention to enforce the law or regulation. Our liability for this Covered Risk is limited to the extent of the violation or enforcement stated in that notice.

  15. An enforcement action based on the exercise of a governmental police power not covered by Covered Risk 14 if there is a notice recorded in the Public Records, describing any part of the Land, of the enforcement action or intention to bring an enforcement action. Our liability for this Covered Risk is limited to the extent of the enforcement action stated in that notice.
  16. Because of an existing violation of a subdivision law or regulation affecting the Land:
    1. You are unable to obtain a building permit;
    2. You are required to correct or remove the violation; or
    3. someone else has a legal right to, and does, refuse to perform a contract to purchase the Land, lease it or make a Mortgage loan on it.

    The amount of Your insurance for this Covered Risk is subject to Your Deductible Amount and Our Maximum Dollar Limit of Liability shown in Schedule A.

  17. You lose Your Title to any part of the Land because of the right to take the Land by condemning it, if:
    1. there is a notice of the exercise of the right recorded in the Public Records and the notice describes any part of the Land; or
    2. the taking happened before the Policy Date and is binding on You if You bought the Land without Knowing of the taking.
  18. You are forced to remove or remedy Your existing structures, or any part of them – other than boundary walls or fences – because any portion was built without obtaining a building permit from the proper government office. The amount of Your insurance for this Covered Risk is subject to Your Deductible Amount and Our Maximum Dollar Limit of Liability shown in Schedule A.
  19. You are forced to remove or remedy Your existing structures, or any part of them, because they violate an existing zoning law or zoning regulation. If You are required to remedy any portion of Your existing structures, the amount of Your insurance for this Covered Risk is subject to Your Deductible Amount and Our Maximum Dollar Limit of Liability shown in Schedule A.
  20. You cannot use the Land because use as a single-family residence violates an existing zoning law or zoning regulation.
  21. You are forced to remove Your existing structures because they encroach onto Your neighbor’s land. If the encroaching structures are boundary walls or fences, the amount of Your insurance for this Covered Risk is subject to Your Deductible Amount and Our Maximum Dollar Limit of Liability shown in Schedule A.
  22. Someone else has a legal right to, and does, refuse to perform a contract to purchase the Land, lease it or make a Mortgage loan on it because Your neighbor’s existing structures encroach onto the Land.
  23. You are forced to remove Your existing structures which encroach onto an Easement or over a building set-back line, even if the Easement orbuilding set-back line is excepted in Schedule B.
  24. Your existing structures are damaged because of the exercise of a right to maintain or use any Easement affecting the Land, even if the Easement isexcepted in Schedule B.
  25. Your existing improvements (or a replacement or modification made to them after the Policy Date), including lawns, shrubbery or trees, are damagedbecause of the future exercise of a right to use the surface of the Land for the extraction or development of minerals, water or any other substance,even if those rights are excepted or reserved from the description of the Land or excepted in Schedule B.
  26. Someone else tries to enforce a discriminatory covenant, condition or restriction that they claim affects Your Title which is based upon race, color,religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.
  27. A taxing authority assesses supplemental real estate taxes not previously assessed against the Land for any period before the Policy Date becauseof construction or a change of ownership or use that occurred before the Policy Date.
  28. Your neighbor builds any structures after the Policy Date — other than boundary walls or fences — which encroach onto the Land.
  29. Your Title is unmarketable, which allows someone else to refuse to perform a contract to purchase the Land, lease it or make a Mortgage loan on it.
  30. Someone else owns an interest in Your Title because a court order invalidates a prior transfer of the title under federal bankruptcy, state insolvency,or similar creditors’ rights laws.
  31. The residence with the address shown in Schedule A is not located on the Land at the Policy Date.
  32. The map, if any, attached to this Policy does not show the correct location of the Land according to the Public Records.

What does Title Insurance Cover?

what does title insurance cover

Question: What are some possible title problems covered by a standard Owner’s Title Policy?

Fraud and Forgery

Those involved in real estate fraud and forgery can be clever and persistent, which can spell trouble for your home purchase.

In a western state, an innocent buyer purchased an attractive home site through a realty company, accepting a notarized deed from the seller, as well as receiving an Owner’s Title Policy.  Then another couple, the true owners of the property (who lived in another locale) suddenly appeared and initiated legal action to prove their interest in the real estate was valid.

Under the owner’s title insurance policy of the innocent buyer, the title company provided a money settlement to protect against financial loss.

As it turned out the forger spent time in advance at the local court house, searching the public records to locate property with out of town owners, who had been in possession for an extended period of time.  The individual involved, then forged and recorded a deed to a fictitious person and assumed the identity of that person before listing the property for sale to an innocent purchaser, handling moot contracts through an answering service.

Fraud and forgery are examples of hidden title hazards that can remain undetected until after a closing, despite the most careful precautions.  Although emphasizing risk elimination, an Owner’s Title Insurance Policy protects financially through negotiation by the insurer with third parties, payment for defending agains an attack on the title as insured, and payment of valid claims.

Conflicting Wills

Conflicts over a will from a deceased former owner may suggest a study topic for law school, but the subject can take on a reality dimension and all too quickly your home ownership is at stake.

After purchasing a residence, the new owner was startled when a brother of the seller claimed an ownership interest and sought a substantial amount of money as his share.  It seemed that their late mother had given the house to the son, who placed the deed in his drawer without recording it at the court house.

Some 20 years later, after the death of the mother, the deed was discovered and then filed.  Permission was granted in probate court to remove the property from the late mother’s estate, and the brother to who the residence initially was given sold the house.  But the other brother appealed the probate court decision, claiming their mother really did not intend to give the house to his sibling.

Ultimately, the appeal was upheld and the new owner faced a significant financial loss.  Since the new owner had acquired owner’s title insurance upon purchasing the real estate, the title company paid the claim, along with an additional amount in legal fees incurred during the defense.

Missing Heirs

When buying a home, it’s important to remember what you don’t know can cost you.

As an example illustrating the need for precautions, the American Land Title Association pointed to a couple who purchased a residence from a widow and her daughter, the only known heirs of the husband and father who died whitout leaving a will.

Soon after the sale, a man appeared – claiming he was the son of the late owner by a former marriage.  As it turned out, he indeed was the son of the deceased man.  This legal heir disapproved of his father’s remarriage and had vanished when the wedding took place.  Nonetheless, the son was entitled to a share of the value of the home, which meant an expensive problem for the unwary couple purchasing the property.

Although the absence of a will hindered discovery of the missing heir in a title search, ALTA said that owner’s title insurance issued at the time of the real estate transaction would have financially protected the couple from the claim by the missing heir.  For a one-time charge at closing, owner’s title insurance will safeguard against problems, including those even an exhaustive search may not reveal.

ALTA reminded that owner’s title insurance is necessary to fully protect a home buyer.  Lender’s title insurance, which is usually required by the mortgage lender, serves as protection only for the lending institution.

Why Buy Title Insurance.

Question: Why Buy Title Insurance?

Answer: In order to issue title insurance, the title company must search public land records for matters affecting that title.  Many search the “chain of title” back 50 years.  Twenty-five percent of title searches find a title problem that is fixed before the insurance is issued. Some examples of items that can cause a problem are: deeds, wills and trusts that contain improper information, outstanding judgments or tax liens against the property, and easements.  Title companies fix the problems then issue the title insurance

Occasionally, in spite of an exhaustive title search, hidden hazards can emerge after closing.  Things such as mistakes in the public record, previously undisclosed heirs claiming to own the property, or forged deeds could cloud the title.  Owner’s title insurance offers financial protection against these by negotiating with third parties and paying claims and legal fees involved in defending the title.
For more information on reasons why you need title insurance, click here.

Types of Title Insurance

Question: Are there different types of title insurance?

Answer: There are two basic types of title insurance: Lender’s title insurance, also called a Loan Policy, and Owner’s title insurance. Most lenders require a Loan Policy when they issue you a loan.  The Loan Policy is based on the dollar amount of your loan.  It protects the lender’s interests in the property should a problem with the title arise.  The policy amount decreases each year and eventually disappears as the loan is paid off.

Owner’s title insurance is usually issued in the amount of the real estate purchase amount.  It is purchased for a one-time fee at closing and lasts as long as you have and interest in the property.  This may even be after the insured has sold the property.  Only Owner’s title insurance fully protects the buyers should a problem arise with the title that was not uncovered during the title search.  Owner’s title insurance also pays for any legal fees involved in defending a claim to your title.

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