A title company facilitates all aspects of the closing. This involves preparing the title documents they need to close, researching the current payoff figures and creating a Closing Disclosure and/or ALTA Settlement Statement, like a title company professional, can explain. The Closing Disclosure and/or ALTA Settlement Statement shows all of the financial transactions related to the closing, such as the lender’s fees, title fees, hazard and flood insurance fees, real estate fees, taxes, escrows, payoffs and other miscellaneous fees involved in the closing based on which type of property you’re buying or selling. 

A reputable title company will take care of the following for you when you buy or sell a home:

Verify Property Tax Status and Payments

It’s the title company’s duty to verify the current status of all property taxes. To avoid any dispute over taxes and unpaid bills, they check with relevant government agencies and districts which impose taxes to ensure that both state and local property taxes have been paid and prorate bills and taxes based on settlement dates and billing periods on the settlement statement.

Order a Property Survey 

Many lenders will ask for a survey or a location map of the property. A title company will order a survey with the buyer’s consent, review the survey to discover any issues that can occur during the closing process or afterward, notify the agent, lender and buyer instantly if any issues come up during the survey and  hand over the survey to the new buyer on the settlement date.

Order Estoppel Letters from Associations

If you are purchasing or selling a condo, townhome or single family home with an association, the title company will order an estoppel letter from the association(s) which will advise the title company of the following; financial status of the account, if there are any violations against the property, if there are any special assessments due or pending, if the utilities are paid by a master meter or to the city and order Payoffs from lenders, judgment creditors and/or lien holders.

If any outstanding mortgages, judgments or liens show up during the title company’s initial title research, they will order payoffs and disburse the funds at closing to be sure they are paid in full and satisfied.

Order a Municipal Lien Search from The City

This is an important search to determine if there are any open permits, code violations or delinquent utility accounts against the property. Any one of these items could become costly issues after purchasing a property. Imagine finding out after a closing that a permit was opened with the city for an addition or repair made to the property and it was never given a proper final inspection and the permit was never closed out. If you signed an as-is contract, this could be a very costly issue for you.

Contact a title company in your local area for all your real estate closing deals.