Close in one day without title company?

Question

Wondering how people close in one day when title work takes a minimum of a week or two. Do you not use a title company? Thanks

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

I did a lot of this when pre foreclosure rent back was legal in Washington and Oregon..  there is some risk.. I could get a full title report many times if the name was not a Smith or something if i ordered it in the morning at got it say by 3pm.. I did not abuse this.. but we did have a customer service rep that handled our account and she would do a date down on the computer verbally to me..  and it was 97% accurate..

so you just have to know you may do a boo boo one time..  but in this Niche we were spending only maybe 15 to 50k per deal to rescue them. so if one went wonky it was just the cost of doing business.. But as I think back on a few hundred of these that I closed on my own all within 24 to 48 hours of curing the foreclosure before the sale.. I don't think we lost on more than 2 or 3 of them..  And the home runs totally made up for it..

for the average investor this would probably be a non starter.. but larger well capitalized companies that do it for a living its just SOP and my company was not the only one doing this.. the laws in Oregon and WA changed in 08 ish and foreclosure rescue lease backs became illegal or highly regulated as to be not worth doing..

I know in parts of the country were they have to rely on title abstractors to physically go to the court house that takes time.. and what I see taking the most time in the big back east cities we work in.. is trying to figure out the UTL bills.. in our markets here other than the city of Portland the Bills did not attach to the property.. so it was not a worry.. it was just figuring out Lien positions and regular tax's and any other Liens that maybe on the property like IRS etc..   I have to say though our customer service departments in our major metros here are truly unbelievable help to the hair on fire investors.

And of course we prepped our own deeds got with the seller to notarize and ran them to the courthouse to record them.. then we would courier the reinstatement cashiers check to the foreclosure trustee ( in those days based mostly in Seattle)  we had the gal at the law office on speed dial.. its was pretty exciting really. Our main one was Northwest Trustee services  but I think they rebranded and are not under that name anymore.

if the seller is not losing the property then there really is no reason to not go through title and as John states many scammers or those that sell bad title properties will try to get you to just accept a quit claim deed  etc..  those are to be looked at very carefully and not suggested at all..

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

Once you understand how real estate transfers actually work its not so intimidating.. and its one thing that many in the business just never take the time to learn how its really done on the back end..  a lot of agents just send the contract to title company and Duck have no clue how the mechanics work.

My Daddys old real estate attorney  told me when I was about 10 or 11 he said you want to make money in this business you go learn how title works and how to research at the courthouse,  how to find Plat maps that were recorded 100 years ago.. just dive into all the public records its fun and gets you to another level and you are not so beholding on other companies to do this for you its not a money issue its a time and speed issue.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

In Washington along with Excise tax.. the ad valorum tax's must be brought current to transfer title IE before the recorder will record your deed. .. in many states you can take title sub too back tax's.. this made last minute rescues even more hairy..

Steve Vaughan · Answer

I may have heard of people self-closing quickly with minimal risk after an owner and encumbrance search and DD with the city and county as to permits, utility bills, code violations, assessments and taxes.

I may also have heard this isn't recommended for beginners at all.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

WE prep our own deeds its not hard.. you simply get a trio from the title company that has the last recorded deed.

you copy and paste the legal description.. usually lot and block  ..  and put in the name of the folks who came into title on the deed and then put your name in were the buyer would go.

Now keep in mind 99% of this was done with vanilla owners who owned their properties in their names not a LLC.. or corp or trust.. then it gets a little more dicy..  at least in what we did

Account Closed · Answer

Back in the day when I was buying pre-foreclosures in Seattle, Northwest Trustee would sell you a copy of their  Trustee's Title Report for $20. I took that route. Then I would do a purchase & sale agreement with the seller, get an authorization to discuss the loan with the lender, along with a notarized Quit Claim Deed, (I learned to use a Warranty Deed  later), get the reinstatement amount, send in the reinstatement and bring the loan current, give the seller their equity so they could move, record the Deed and take over the financing Subject To. Then I'd fix up the property and sell. Made a lot of money doing that but it's a tad risky. You should either really know what you are doing or be well capitalized, or both.

Account Closed · Answer

Yep. If they are closing in a day, they aren't getting title reports or using escrow. That's a very big issue and red flag.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

yes this type of transaction is HIGHLY dependent on your venue HIGHLY..  Where it can bite you and I have seen this many times.. is someone takes title via a quit claim that was NOT prepped by a lawyer or title company.. and when they go to sell the new buyer cant get title insurance as they are leery of the transaction bringing the investor into title.

So for us we are very well known at most of the national title companies in our market so they would not question my deeds that I prepped.. One has to be very cautious though in some market quit claims can really get you in trouble.. But like in MS where I did a ton of lending quit claim was the go to title transfer document and created no issue.

For me my go to person is usually the title examiner for the title company.. I get to know them personally and get their phone numbers.. the buck stops with them normally.. in states out east or north east I am not sure I would risk much to do my own deals.. those areas are much more complicated than the CA OR WA ID NV stuff

Close in one day without title company?

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