MARCH RIDDLE
Send your riddle guesses to Christine by clicking here.
Good Luck!
Where do dogs refuse to go shopping?
February’s riddle and answer:
What kind of ship never sinks?
Although there were a lot of good answers submitted, we were looking for friendship.
Thank you to all that participate!.
It is that time of year again! We are excited to announce that we will be hosting a March Madness Bracket contest again this year.
SEE HOME PAGE FOR MORE DETAILS
We will be accepting brackets (it doesn’t have to be a Barristers bracket) until Thursday March 17th at noon. We will post blank brackets on our home page by mid day on Monday the 14th. We will also email out a copy of the blank bracket forms on Monday.
Remember 1st prize is a $100 gift card, 2nd $50 and 3rd $25. Good Luck!!!
ALTA Best Practices
Title Policy Production
We are very excited to announce that we are currently processing final title policies within 48 hours of their receipt. We have discussed in previous newsletters the market place’s expectation that policies be issued within 30 days of closing and queried whether that standard applies in North Carolina. We are also smart enough to know that whether we believe the standard applies to us or not, the Lenders’ expectations are not going to care about the differences between the various States when it comes to settlements. Over the last couple of months we have worked overtime to get to where we are right now. This month, we will be adding another person to our Underwriting Team so that we can continue to meet the obligations placed upon us.
It is has been our fervent desire, since the day we opened our doors in 2007, to be the finest Title Agency in the State. That is a goal we take very seriously and continue to strive for everyday.
The Quill Tip – Equity Lines/Future Advances
Some of you have may have received an e-mail from one of our Underwriters at some point in the last 7+ years asking for a copy of the Close Account Letter related to an Equity Line or Future Advances Deed of Trust that you paid off at closing. You may have found the request slightly irritating. I hope not…but if you did, let me tell you why we ask. You all likely don’t know this, because we (the Title Insurance Industry) do not do a very good job of telling you which errors or omissions lead to claims. Failing to properly close Equity Lines is one of those things. The law requires that a request to close the open-ended account be signed by the borrower. If you have a standard letter you send with payoff checks – or if you wire your payoffs to mortgage lenders – and do not send a Close Account Letter, the lender will not cancel that account. That means that the borrower will be free to run the balance back up. In a refinance situation, that means that the new lender will be in a second lien position to the Equity Line Lender. (And that means, by implication, that you will have violated your closing instructions.) In a purchase situation, that means that the lien associated with the Equity Line will be superior to your purchaser’s interest and your purchaser’s lender’s interest. Bad news. This is not a theoretical risk. This is a real life risk and claims are paid out related to this one error every year.
Let’s look at two situations involving Equity Lines where a failure to obtain the Close Account Letter at closing creates issues. In the first, a borrower refinancing her mortgage debt. She pays her Equity Line down to a zero balance and intends to close it, but she does not sign a close account letter at closing. When asked for a copy of the letter, the Closing Attorney is unable to find one in his/her file. Consequently, the Attorney asks the borrower to sign a close account letter. In the process, the Attorney discovers that the borrower has run the balance of line back up. Now the Attorney must get the Equity Line Deed of Trust subordinated or run the risk of having violated the Lender’s Closing Instructions.
In the second scenario, let’s say that a seller does not sign a Close Account Letter because the paralegal for the closing attorney fails to recognize that the Deed of Trust is for future advances. Not all Future Advances Deeds of Trust say the words “EQUITY LINE” distinctly at the top of the instrument. In some cases, you have to read the document to discern that it is has a future advances provision in it. The Paralegal has to go back to the Seller after closing to get him to sign a Close Account Letter. How much fun is it to ask the parties to do something for you post-closing? What if he refuses? What if the seller has run the line back up?
These are real world situations. They are not hypotheticals. Our Commitments have a standard requirement related to future advances deeds of trust. We need to know that the requirement was cleared. More accurately stated, we need to have those close account letters in our files before we close them for good and issue the policy. As I stated previously, this is not a hypothetical risk; this happens every year in North Carolina and leads to hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims paid out by the Underwriters. Click here to see an example of a Close Account Letter that you are free to use. While we hate to ask, we need you all to obtain those letters at closing and to send them to us with your Final Title Opinions.
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Meet the Family
5 Question Edition
Kristen Neumann
I have a passion for Photography.
I don’t have a favorite movie, but I do prefer Sci-fi.
Johnny Depp. He seems like such a caring and down to earth person. He seems like he would have many interesting stories to tell.
With my mathematics degree I’d probably be working at a bank or in the financial world in some capacity.
I have a distant “cousin” who is a tv personality in Hungary, Marcsi Borbas. She currently is on a show called Gastroangyal.