Our principals bring with them over 70 years of real estate understanding and experience in both residential and commercial real estate. Our professional escrow officers are determined, dedicated and produce the desired results for you. We constantly strive to perform at the highest level of service in a continual attempt to surpass our customers' expectations.
The combined knowledge and professionalism of our team allows us to offer the highest level of professional service in the industry.
What is Escrow: Simply defined, an escrow is a deposit of funds, a deed or other instrument by one party for the delivery to another party upon completion of a particular condition or event. The California Escrow Law - Section 17003 - provides the complete legal requirements.
Why Do I Need Escrow: Whether you are a buyer, seller, lender or borrower, you want assurance that no funds or property will change hands until ALL of the instructions in the transaction have been followed. The escrow holder has the obligation, to safeguard the funds and or document while they are in the possession of the escrow holder, and to disburse funds, and/or convey title only when all provision of the escrow have been complied with.
How Does It Work: The principals to escrow – buyer, seller, lender, borrower – cause escrow instruction, most usually in writing, to be created, signed and delivered to the escrow officer. If a broker is involved, he or she will normally provide the escrow officer with the information necessary for the preparation of you escrow instruction and document.
The escrow officer will create escrow instruction and process the escrow, in accordance with the escrow instruction, and then all condition required in the escrow can or have been met or achieved, the escrow will be “closed”. Each escrow, although following a similar pattern, will be different in some respects, as it seals with YOUR property and the transaction at hand.
The duties of an escrow holder include: following instruction given but he principles and parties to the transaction in a timely manner; handling the funds and/or documents in accordance with the instruction; paying all bill as authorized; responding to the authorized requests form the principals; closing the escrow only then all terms and conditions have been met; and distributing the funds in accordance with the instruction and providing an accounting for the same – the Closing or Settlement Statement.
Choosing Escrow: The selection of the escrow holder is normally done by agreement between the principals. If a real estate broker is involved in the transaction, the broker may recommend and escrow holder. However, it is the right of the principals to use an escrow holder who is competent and who is experienced in handling the type of escrow at hand. There are laws that prohibit the payment or referral fees; this affords the consumer the best possible escrow services without any compromise caused by a person receiving a referral fee.
During Escrow: The key to any transaction is to read and understand your escrow instructions. If you do not understand them, you should as your escrow officer to explain the instructions.
Your escrow officer is not an attorney and cannot practice law; you should consult your lawyer for legal advice. Do not expect your escrow officer to advise you as to whether or not you have a good deal” or are doing the things the right way. The officer is there to follow the instruction given by the principals in the escrow.
In order to expedite the closing off the escrow, you should check with your escrow officer as to what specific items you could do to assist. Ask the question” What can I do to expedite the closing of this escrow?” Respond quickly to correspondence. This will assist in the timely closing of the transaction.
If you are required to deliver funds into the escrow, make sure that you provide “good” funds in the form required by the escrow officer. Company procedures differ in this regard and there are ways that you can help at the time of closing; check with your escrow officer. Do not give the escrow officer a personal check and expect the escrow to close immediately; the escrow can only close on cleared funds, and the processing of a personal check can take days, possibly even a week or more.
When the escrow officer closes the escrow, some of you may want the closing papers, check, title policies, statements, etc. made available immediately. There are many aspects to the closing of the escrow, and some of these cannot be processed on the day of the closing they may take several days. If you have a special need, for example a cashier’s check on the day of closing, you should communicate that need to the escrow officer early in the processing of the escrow.
Your New Loan: If you are obtaining a new loan, your escrow officer will be in touch with the lender who will need copies of the escrow instructions, the preliminary title report and any other documents escrow could supply. In the processing and closing of escrow, the escrow holder is obligates to comply with the lender’s instructions.
It has become a practice of some lenders to forward their loan documents to escrow for signing. The escrow officer/loan document-signing specialist will go through your loan documents with you. However, you should be aware that these papers are the lenders document. You have the option of requesting a representative from the lenders office to be available at loan signing for any question you may have.
Closing Statement: A closing statement is an accounting, in writing, prepared at the close of escrow, which sets forth the charges, and credits of your account. The items shown on the statement will reflect the purchase price, the funds deposited or credited to your account, payoffs on existing encumbrances and/or liens, the costs for all services and determination of the funds due you at the close of the escrow. When you receive you closing papers, review the closing statement; it is extremely logical and reflects the financial aspects of your transaction. If anything does not make sense to you, you should ask you r escrow officer for an explanation.
When going through your closing papers, examine all of them; there may even be a refund check hiding in there. Cash the check quickly, please. Be sure to have the check properly endorsed. All payees must endorse the check. This will eliminate the check being returned unpaid die to irregular or missing endorsement.
Your closing statement and all other escrow papers should be kept virtually forever for income tax purposes. Your accountant will need the information about the sale or purchase of property. The IRS and other agencies may require you to prove your costs and/or profit on the sale of any property. The closing statement will assist in this task.
Do not rely on your escrow holder always retaining the escrow file so that you can call and get copies of the closing statement. Most escrow holders will destroy the files after the statutory retention period, usually five years. Maintaining and storing the closed escrow files is a costly endeavor to the escrow holder. Therefore, a nominal fee may be charge by your escrow holder for the retrieval of a file from storage, photocopying the requested documents and returning the file to storage. Escrow fees are not regulated by the state. Escrow holders, like any other business, will charge fees that are commensurate with the cost of producing service, the liability undertaken, and the overhead expenses in which include a profit factor. Therefore, the fees will vary between companies and from county to county. Normally, the escrow holder will follow its minimum fee schedule, which will provide for extra charges based upon the differing elements of your escrow. On occasions, an additional fee will be charged for unusual expenditures of time on a given transaction. The escrow holder has no control over the costs of the other services that are obtained, such as the title insurance policy, the lenders charges, insurance, recording charges, etc.
Cancellation: No escrow is opened with the intention that it will cancel, but there are occasions when a contingency cannot be met or when the parties disagree during the transactions. Some escrow holders provide for such an event by incorporating an instruction in the typed or printed General Provisions.
Ordinarily, an escrow holder will take the position that no funds on deposit can be refunded until the escrow holder is in receipt of mutual cancellation instruction, signed by the principals. The escrow holder cannot normally make a determination as to who is the “rightful” party in a dispute on a cancellation and therefore few will not return the funds or documents until the principals agree the escrow holder is not a judge. Do not expect to be charged a cancellation fee, as this is a charge for professional services rendered and quite often several ‘out of pocket” expenses that have been incurred on the client’s behalf. These fees vary company to company depending upon their policies. Sometimes, when a dispute exists, the escrow holder may be forced to allow a court to decide which party is entitled to what documents or funds; this is called an Interpleader Action. Fortunately, most disputes are resolved before the Interpleaded is filed, as the costs for such legal actions are extreme. Those costs, incidentally, are normally paid out of the duns on deposit in the escrow holders provide for such an event by incorporating an instruction in the typed or printed General Provisions.
Ordinarily, an escrow holder will take the position that no funds on deposit can be refunded until the escrow holder is in receipt of mutual cancellation instruction, signed by the principals. The escrow holder cannot normally make a determination as to who is the “rightful” party in a dispute on a cancellation and therefore few will not return the funds or documents until the principals agree the escrow holder is not a judge. Do not expect to be charged a cancellation fee, as this is a charge for professional services rendered and quite often several ‘out of pocket” expenses that have been incurred on the client’s behalf. These fees vary company to company depending upon their policies. Sometimes, when a dispute exists, the escrow holder may be forced to allow a court to decide which party is entitled to what documents or funds; this is called an Interpleader Action. Fortunately, most disputes are resolved before the Interpleaded is filed, as the costs for such legal actions are extreme. Those costs, incidentally, are normally paid out of the duns on deposit in the escrow.
Title Insurance: Title insurance is usually obtained when real property is purchased. The policy of title insurance insures the owner and/or the lender of ownership of the property. There are various coverage’s afforded, but a basic policy insures that the buyer is the owner and that any lender shown on the policy is an “insured” lender. Many different types of extended coverage are available; for example ALTA policy is quite often required by the title insurance policy. The title policy is written after an extensive examination of the public record is made and the recording of the required documents as called for in the escrow.
The title insurance policy fee is a one-time fee, paid at the close of escrow. The determination of who pays for the policy is not uniform from county to county in California. In some counties, the buyer will pay while in others the seller will pay. In other countries the seller will pay for the owner’s policy and the buyer will pay for the lenders title policy. But in almost every case, the question of who pays the closing costs is a matter of agreement between the parties. Usually this agreement is bases on the customary practice in your county or area. In the case of some FHA or VA transactions, the escrow officer must follow the guidelines as required by the lender and/or government.
Property taxes: The terms of your transaction and the result escrow instruction determine how the property taxes will be handled. If there is no mention of the proration of taxes, your escrow holder will not deal with any credits or charges for prorated taxes.
However, if you escrow calls for a proration of taxes, there will be an item in your closing statement that will reflect with a credit or charge to your account. If the taxes are not paid (even though there has been a credit or charge against your account), the buyers obligates to obtain a tax bill and pay the taxes If the buyer does not have a tax bill which to pay the taxes, you can request a bill from the Tax Collector: send a photocopy for the deed.
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