the wasserblawg

First American Title Insurance Company announced today that it too will no longer accept third party checks at Chicago area residential real estate closings. They join Chicago Title and PNTN , who already declared an end to the age old practice of telling buyers to bring funds to closing in the form of cashiers checks made payable "to themselves." These net effect of these three announcements (and the many more that are about to follow) is that the rules have changed for ALL local closings... and anyone not keeping abreast is going to have an unfortunate  problem at their next closing. 1st American's notice takes the issue even one step further, and this will be of particular concern and import to real estate lawyers :  First Am will no longer accept third party title insurance company checks either . In other words, Buyers who intend to use the proceeds of a sale to close their next purchase at First American better have a lawyer (or realtor) who is hip to the new ...