the wasserblawg

The late great PLM Title closed under mysterious circumstances  nearly three years ago. I previously blogged about this here and here .  As reported  in yesterday's Morning Herald , a mystery no more.  That ugly saga represented one of every real estate lawyers worst nightmare scenarios. The evil doers apparently took funds from closings that were supposed to be used to pay-off old mortgages for their own use. Those unpaid mortgages hampered many otherwise innocent buyers and sellers. Could this happen again? Sure, I suppose so. Fortunately however, Illinois  home buyers and sellers are now protected by a recent change to the Illinois Title Insurance Ac t that requires mandatory  closing protection letters. Every title insurance agent's underwriter must now assure the buyer, new mortgage lender, and seller that no loss will be suffered as the result of a dishonest title agent. Of course, buyers and sellers are paying new fees for that protection, but lest we gripe about thos