the wasserblawg

I help a lot of buyers slog through stacks and stacks of mortgage loan documents at closings. Anyone who has sat through a closing with me has heard "the routine" my explanation of the various disclosures and certifications that lenders subject their customers to. Buyers produce photo ID to the closer. A whole lot of trees give there lives to help the lenders and title companies verify borrower identities and to warn borrowers of the penalties for mortgage fraud. Multiple promises that the borrowers have told the truth. Affidavits attesting that the Buyer is using his/her true signature. Stern warnings that the lender is going to comply with the Patriot Act. Even the scary FBI notice over on the margin here. Cynical me. I tend to poke fun at a lot of these documents, and all the redundancies, and the silliness attendant to them. Turns out, I may be wrong for making light of these issues. Inman news reports today that: About one in five suspicious activity reports banks file...

Title insurance is a critically important part of any real estate transaction; or at least it should be. The title company guaranties the "quality" of an owners interest in the property - that there aren't any (unknown) liens or defects. No buyer that I work for will purchase a property without it. Title insurance is only as good as the insurer. We want to know that the insurance company, like the Rock of Gibraltar , will always be there. We want to sleep easy at night, knowing that the client is protected. That said, it was a bit distressing to see that PLM Title Company shut its doors, without any forewarning last week. Worse still, this morning's news is that there is a criminal investigation underway - and that we do not yet know why. Old timers like me shudder with memories of the great Intercounty Title debacle five years ago. Here's to hoping that this one is nothing like that one. Set aside the problems involved trying to make a claim against a defun...