Title Insurance Archives - Page 28 of 32

“Trust Me… All About TRUSTS”

By Marie Ragias
Underwriting Counsel
Title First Agency

Trusts are becoming ever more popular in estate planning, and it is important for you as an agent to understand how to best prepare your buyer or seller when a trust entity is involved in a real property transaction. Let’s talk about the documents your client will need to submit to Title First to process the transaction and why each one is required:

All buyer and seller trust entities will need to provide either a Memorandum of Trust or Certification of Trust as evidence of the Trustee’s authority to handle the real property transaction. Ohio Revised Code Section 5301.255 governs Memorandums of Trust, and Ohio Revised Code Section 5810.13 governs Certifications of Trust. Each code section lays out the information that is required to be obtained in either of these documents. Both require the name of the current trustee as well as the powers of the trustee.

Why are these documents required?

These documents clarify in the public record that the trustee acting on behalf of the trust had authority to buy, sell, and/or mortgage the subject property.

A selling trust may already have one of record with the county recorder, in which case the seller trustee will only be required to sign a document at closing called a “Non-Revocation of Trust”, which will be held in the Title First file.

A buying trust may not have one of record if this is their first purchase under the trust, in which case, one will need to be prepared to record for purposes of satisfying a lender requirement and for obtaining a policy
of title insurance.

Depending on the circumstances of your client’s transaction, they may also need to provide an Affidavit of Successor Trustee. If the trustee that originally took the title as a representative for the trust is now deceased or has otherwise been removed as trustee, Title First will need to have an Affidavit of Successor Trustee prepared, which will name the new trustee who now has authority to act on behalf of the trust. Typically, the Successor Trustee is named in the original trust agreement.

If your client is uncomfortable providing information from the Trust or is hesitant, then we can help alleviate matters by pinpointing what we need from the original trust document. Your client can have the above documents prepared by their own private attorney or Title First can facilitate preparation of these documents by referring to a private attorney outside of Title First. By providing these documents early on, the closing process will be more efficient.

Scratching your head with questions regarding what documents are required? Good news! – Title First has NINE attorneys on staff who are more than happy to answer any questions about what will be required of your buyer or seller trust.

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Here’s Why You Need Title Insurance

A fire destroys only the house and improvements. The ground is left. A defective title may take away not the only the house but also the land on which it stands. Title insurance protects you (as specified in the policy) against such loss.
A deed or mortgage in the chain of title may be a forgery.
A deed or a mortgage may have been signed by a person under age.
A deed or a mortgage may have been made by an insane person or one otherwise incompetent.
A deed or a mortgage may have been made under a power of attorney after its termination and would, therefore, be void.
A deed or a mortgage may have been made by a person other than the owner, but with the same name as the owner.
The testator of a will might have had a child born after the execution of the will, a fact that would entitle the child to claim his or her share of the property.
A deed or mortgage may have been procured by fraud or duress.
Title transferred by an heir may be subject to a federal estate tax lien.
An heir or other person presumed dead may appear and recover the property or an interest therein.
A judgment or levy upon which the title is dependent may be void or voidable on account of some defect in the proceeding.
Title insurance covers attorneys’ fees and court costs.
Title insurance helps speed negotiations when you’re ready to sell or obtain a loan.
By insuring the title, you can eliminate delays and technicalities when passing your title on to someone else.
Title insurance reimburses you for the amount of your covered losses.
A deed or mortgage may be voidable because it was signed while the grantor was in bankruptcy.
Each title insurance policy we write is paid up, in full, by the first premium for as long as you or your heirs own the property.
There may be a defect in the recording of a document upon which your title is dependent.
Claims constantly arise due to marital status and validity of divorces. Only title insurance protects against claims made by non-existent or divorced “wives” or “husbands.”
Many lawyers, in giving an opinion on a title, protect their clients as well as themselves, by procuring title insurance.
Over the last 24 years, claims have risen dramatically.

Dedicated to innovation and passionate about service, Title First Agency is your comprehensive, nationwide resource for title and real estate settlement services. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Title First has branch offices throughout the Midwest and a robust virtual partner network throughout the country. Title First got its start in 1956 as an affiliate of a local law firm and has since emerged as one of the largest independent title agencies in the nation.

Proudly servicing Realtors, lenders, builders, developers, law firms, buyers and sellers, Title First is equipped to serve your residential and commercial title and settlement needs. Title First Agency. Your title company.

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Get Your Home Ready to Sell in the Spring Market

Spring is right around the corner and while we are in the cold, gray days of February, now is a perfect time to get your home ready to put on the market to sell during the Spring market!

Start purging and packing. Go through your closets, attic, garage, basement, junk drawers and decide what you can throw out and what you want to save but don’t need and can box up. Reducing the amount of clutter will help potential buyers visualize how they might use the different areas. Plus, the less you have in a closet – the bigger it will seem.

Make improvements especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. It doesn’t need to be expensive. For instance, how do your kitchen cabinets look? Are they chipped or are the knobs falling off? Replace or repaint them, tighten the knobs or replace the hardware completely. Regrout tile where needed, caulk the shower and tub, replace switch plates and doorknobs- all this will give the bathroom a fresh look without breaking the bank.

How is your front door? The front hallway? The first thing a potential buyer will see when they come to your home. Give it a fresh coat of paint and clean or replace the knob and knocker if there is one. Look around at the foyer area and notice if you need to update the walls with neutral paint or clean the trim, if any.

Use neutral, gray or white paint on the walls in each room. Another relatively cheap and easy thing to do in the Winter months to get ready for Spring. Don’t just touch up – paint the entire wall. Now is the time to paint over the bright colors you may have used. If you have carpeting in any room, consider replacing to hardwood which will help the home sell, or at the very least get a good professional cleaning.

Go room to room in your warm home while the February snow is falling outside and scrutinize everything from switch plates to ceiling fans. Look for the tiny flaws that you haven’t noticed like cob webs in between the storm & the window. Have you dusted the shades? Cleaned the curtains? Not something people think to do on the weekly, but can make a huge difference. Simply get on the floor at kid and dog level and wipe down the baseboards and look for little fingerprints to wash away with mild soap and water. Put the brush attachement on your vacuum and run it over the walls.

The Bottom Line: It’s surprising, the little things you don’t notice daily in your home. But, taking the time and seeing things through the eyes of a potential buyer can greatly help to get your home ready for Spring. Sometimes asking a friend to come to do an honest walk through and point out problems will help. Now, might also be the perfect time to find a Realtor and have them come in your home and give you their feedback as well.

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Protecting Our Clients Information

With wire fraud and email hacking on the rise, we must all become more diligent in protecting our clients’ information. At Title First Agency, we take security seriously and we put our company through a rigorous audit (SSAE 18). In December, we had a perfect report for the 4th year in a row. This is one of the steps we take to make sure our clients’ data is safe and secure. Title First is one of only a handful of title agencies across the country to go through these audits

Another aspect of protecting our clients’ information is educating prospective buyers, sellers and real estate professionals about the dangers of wire fraud and email hacking. While buying and selling a home is an exciting time, there can be pitfalls for unsuspecting consumers. We’ve made a video with four tips to protect money and advice on what to do if targeted by a scam.

Title First Agency’s software platform and third-party integrations are crucial to providing our clients with the most efficient title services. Our objective is to continually refine state of the art technology to assist with compliance. This is achieved by working with the top technology providers in the business. We also work closely with residential realtors and their clients, through the escrow and title process to make sure that proper steps are taken to successfully close.

The Bottom Line: Protecting against wire fraud and email hacking requires all parties of a transaction to stay diligent throughout the process. If there are any questions regarding potential wire fraud, email hacking or anything else that feels “off”, Title First Agency is here to be contacted to discuss any issue with our agents.

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Home Appraisal

A real estate appraisal is an essential piece of the buying and selling of property most notably if a buyer is going to need a loan to buy the home. No legitimate financial institution will lend money without an appraisal. The appraisal value of a home can make or break a sale, leaving this part of the real estate process one if not the most important, critical steps.

A home appraisal is different from a home inspection even though both an appraiser and an inspector will walk inside, outside and around the property to check everything with a fine tooth comb. The appraiser is finding the value of the home and the inspector is looking for problems or defects with it.

During an appraisal of a home, the appraiser will look at the state of repari, the features, square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms. It is good to give a list of repairs and improvements made such as a new roof, water heater, air conditioning, etc. Basically, anything the owner of the home can think of that will help the appraiser decide the general market value of the home.

The home will then be compared as accurately as possible by way of recent sales, homes sold that are similar, and a search will be done for properties that are identical to yours and what’s been sold or what is on sale in the neighborhood. The appraiser will also provide whether values of home are on the rise, decreasing or stable. If there are any concerns that he feels will harm the property’ value, it will be noted as well as flagging any bigger problems he may see in the foundation, the roof or any noticeable water leaks in ceilings or floors.

Again, an appraisal can make or break a sale of the home so it’s a nerve-wracking time. If the appraisal comes back higher or lower than the sale price, there will need to be more negotiating. If the seller isn’t happy with the outcome, a good Realtor will discuss with the appraiser why certain decisions were made. With the help of a Realtor, the seller can put together a valid argument as to why the appraisal is not correct.

Appraisals are valid for six months unless the home is in certain markets where homes are selling fast and prices continually change. At which point, lenders usually like an appraisal every three months.

The Bottom Line: Any good Realtor will press on the point that pricing the home correctly is most important. If a home is overpriced it’s not going to appraise and the sale usually falls through. Pricing issues are the number one reason homes don’t sell.

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Are You Ready For Your Interior Home Inspection?

It’s in a seller’s best interest to make sure their home is as ready as possible for inspection. All homes that have been lived in usually have a bit of damage from simply living in it. After your home has been on the market and someone is interested in buying it, you have to pass the inspection. Home inspection seems nerve-wracking but they are necessary before any sale. There are a few things you can do to be prepared for the day when the interior of your home is being inspected.

Heating, Cooling, Water Heater: Each should have a date of their last inspection on them. If not, they could be flagged by the inspector. If you can’t find a sticker, have your Realtor give you the name of a licensed contractor to come to have a look to see if any repairs or changes should be made and make sure all are running properly.

Bathrooms: How is the grout in the shower, around the sink and in the tub looking? This one is an easy remedy if you see any cracks – match the grout color and fill in the damaged areas. Make sure any pipe work that was performed meets legal standards and guidelines. For example: If you put in your own custom shower, note that the inspector will check below the surface to make sure that the membrane was installed properly and there isn’t water leaking below the shower that could damage the sub-floor and drywall. The inspector will flush all the toilets and listen for any leaking sounds. Often you will just need a flapper valve if you hear a sound. Cheap fix.

Electrical: Test your outlets. For as little as $10, an outlet tester can be picked up at a home improvement store. An inspector will try every single one in your home. Be sure the cover plates are not cracked – another cheap and easy fix. Every light fixture should have a working bulb and your smoke detector should work.

Plumbing: Fill all your sinks part of the way and then pull the plug to see if they drain normally. Did it take a long time to fill the sink? It might be because you have low water pressure and is often a really easy fix. Occasionally, this could be an indication of a bigger problem within your plumbing system. It’s best, at that point, to hire a professional to come to see before an inspector. Check inside cabinets under sinks for moisture or around the valves.

Kitchen Appliances: Repair any that may need to be fixed as the inspector will run the dishwasher, the stove, oven, garbage disposal, vents, and fans. If you bought a new appliance while you lived in the home and installed it yourself, mistakes may have been made during setup. Check the water and drainage lines from a new dishwasher or refridgerator.

Windows & Doors: Each window should be able to open, close and lock. If you find any hard movement, it can be easily fixed using spray silicone from the hardware store. Repair any caulking around the doors and make sure all the knobs/deadbolts are working properly.

The Bottom Line: This is just a quick checklist of some of the things that you, as a homeowner, can look for and fix before an inspection inside your home. Some of the issues may need the help of a professional. The best advice we have heard is if you want the inspection to go smoothly, have your home inspected before it even goes on the market. This way, anything you can’t fix yourself, you will have time to find a reasonably priced contractor instead of rushing and paying top dollar after the fact.

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Facebook Can Sell Your Home

Take advantage of Facebook to sell your home — and be certain that the Realtor you choose is social media savvy. The Facebook universe is voluntarily giving up its demographic information daily and 1.5 billion members can be directly reached.

Video: Currently Facebook is fond of videos versus still images, which means the powers-that-be are at work with the algorithms of the platform that make the decision as to what a user will see on their newsfeeds, and video is at the top right now. Giving a tour of your home either live or prerecorded focusing on the best selling points of your home should be one of the first things posted. Invest in a photographer/videographer, it will pay off in the end.

Photos: Hiring that photographer/videographer will come in handy for these. People love pictures. Plain texts on Facebook rarely get the views that a post with a beautiful photo gets. Take advantage of the fact that social media users are visual beings and are attracted to properties they see while casually scrolling through Facebook.

Post with a link within the text: In other words, put up one of your beautiful photos, with a short, well-worded text and the link at the end to click. Facebook wants us to stay on its platform and not navigate away. If the picture is the link to the MLS listing, the weight for the algorithm will be weighed much lower and miss newsfeeds.

Facebook ads: Put aside a little money beyond the costs of advertising in your local classifieds, and consider buying a Facebook ad that goes to a web page showcasing your home. The precision is incredible – you can target users according to various criteria, including location, gender, age, education, workplace, etc. Best of all? You don’t need to spend a lot of money on an ad. Start low – even just $5.

The Bottom Line: Embrace Facebook for home selling. Over 90% of homebuyers start their hunt online and they will never even get in the car to go see a home for sale if the online presentation is not compelling. Write posts about what made YOU buy the home. Make the posts personal and detailed. Facebook’s ability to target posts and ads to your core demographics are invaluable. 69% of Realtors use Facebook because it works. Find that Realtor.

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Selling A Home in January

Unfortunately, many people assume incorrectly that homes do not sell in the winter. Spring wins as people believe it is the best time to sell, but a good realtor will tell a seller that putting their home on the market in January to beat the competition. After the holidays, people are back at work and looking online for their next move, and with the mindset of so many sellers to wait until Spring, the home on the market in January will have less competition.

Real Estate becomes flooded come spring and summer and is dominated by high supply and high demand, meaning a home becomes one of the many for sale. Think about selling in a period of high demand but low supply, and being one of the few and standing out from the crowd and with less risk of getting lost in a market overload in the Spring.

Redfin, a real estate organization, took a look a home sales from 2010 through 2014 to determine how well homes sold based on the season. The findings were surprising for many people, because they went against the standard assumption that winter was a time to avoid trying to sell a home. They found that, indeed, homes did sell best in spring, but only by a small margin. The next best time to sell a home turned out to be winter, followed by summer and then fall. Winter home sales were only one percentage point lower than the figures for spring, with summer trailing quite a bit behind.

The buyers are more serious in the cold, dark months of January and February. It’s not so hard to go house hunting in the beautiful months in Spring and Summer, but to go out in the frigid temps to look at homes means that buyer is motivated.

January is the most popular month for corporate transfers. People who are transferring for work are highly motivated buyers and are limited to the time they can spend looking for a house. Take advantage of this situation, especially if living in an area with corporate headquarters, or major employers.

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Title Insurance on New Construction Home

Most people know how important it is to have title insurance when buying a new home. The buyer needs to have protection against defects or problems because of liens, encumbrances or defects in the title when there is a transfer of property ownership. But, what if the home being sold is new construction since there isn’t an actual previous home that has a title?

When a home is sold, the original seller transfers the title deed to the buyer. The hope is that the seller has had full possession of the title without any liens on the property and has the right to sell it. A title company will research public records looking for problems that might be associated with the property – filing errors, forgeries, undisclosed heirs – and once searhed will provide a poliy to protect the buyer from an issues that may be uncovered later.

All of the above makes sense if a home that is being bought has been owned by someone else. What happens when a buyer is purchasing the land to build a new house on? Why would title insurance be needed? Because the land was owned and may have been broken up from an even larger parcel that has undiscovered claims. The title to that land may come into dispute in years to come. Most land is not completely claim-free, thus there is history. Furthermore, the builder may have bills unpaid to subcontractors and suppliers resulting in a lien on the new home.

A title policy is the best and safest way in protecting the buyer of the land that the new home is being built on. There will be no question of ownership in the future, especially if the home in the new subdivision was not properly subdivided.

The Bottom Line: The lender will want to be sure that there is a clear title on the property. Someone owned the land on which the new home is being built before the buyer and the title to that land may at some point come into dispute. And, while there is no question the owners could experience disruption during a dispute, the title insurance will ease the pain by covering the bills during the process.

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Smooth Real Estate Transactions

Buying a home can be chock full of complications and setbacks, or it can go remarkably smooth and fast if it is planned carefully. The Realtor needs to stay focused and be the voice of reason as they facilitate the process at closing and make sure all parties have completed all unfinished business prior to coming to the “closing table”. Here’s a quick list that Realtors can use to ensure a smooth closing.

Repairs: The Realtor should check on the status of all repairs that were to be made on the home the day before closing. If there was an agreement that something needed to be fixed by closing, make sure that it is. If there was an arrangement for repairs to be taken care of after closing, make sure all the necessary paperwork shows this as fact. A final walk-through should be done with the buyers. The sellers should make sure, with their Realtor, that the property is in the condition promised and all of their personal items are removed.

Title Insurance: All of the title work should be checked to ensure clear title and that the property can be transferred without any obstructions. Should there be any title issues that might include judgments or liens, they must be settled prior to the hour of closing. The moment of truth in a real estate transaction happens at the closing table. Title First Agency will work hard to ensure a seamless experience for you and your clients. From contract to closing, we handle all the details to help a transaction run smoothly and close on time.

Financing: The lender should be contacted the day before the closing to be certain that all the documents they need have been received. Occasionally, the closing is delayed due to one document or one final verification. The interest rate for the loan should be locked as well as the final mortgage and monthly payments. The Realtor should make sure the buyer has all the funds available and ready to close. Having everything in hand the day before gives both the buyer and the seller 24 hours to review everything and have any questions ready, errors noticed or points not understood addressed.

The Bottom Line: A thorough Realtor will make sure the buyers are ready for the closing. First-time buyers may not realize all the people that could possibly be at the closing table, and all the paperwork there will be that needs their signature. The buyer needs a cashier’s check or arrangments made to wire the closing funds to the escrow company. The seller should bring all the keys, garage door openers, alarm codes and any other controls to the settlement. The Realtor should make sure and confirm that all utilities have been disconnected by the sellers and set up ready for the buyers upon closing.

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