Title error found after refinance

[John Hogg]

Hi biggerpockets community,

I could use some advice on a situation that has come to light with my current lender.

I refinanced a duplex property in 02/2021 to a new lender.

I am just finding out today that during the refinance process the new lender/title company input the address incorrectly and only has one side of the duplex address included on title and not both addresses.

This incorrect adress situation has caused a series of insurance billing issues that i am just realizing and the lender will not let me include corrected addresses without proper title or usps confirmation.

Tax records with the county list me as current owner in the property address questioned.

Does anyone have experience dealing with title errors? Is this something I need to correct with prior title company or involve a real estate attorney?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

[Russell Brazil]

Quote from @John Hogg:

Hi biggerpockets community,

I could use some advice on a situation that has come to light with my current lender.

I refinanced a duplex property in 02/2021 to a new lender.

I am just finding out today that during the refinance process the new lender/title company input the address incorrectly and only has one side of the duplex address included on title and not both addresses.

This incorrect adress situation has caused a series of insurance billing issues that i am just realizing and the lender will not let me include corrected addresses without proper title or usps confirmation.

Tax records with the county list me as current owner in the property address questioned.

Does anyone have experience dealing with title errors? Is this something I need to correct with prior title company or involve a real estate attorney?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

 Contact your title insurance carrier to fix it. 

[John Hogg]

Thanks so much for the advice Russell. I will see what I can do to reach out their way first.

I couldn't find any title insurance policy information on my closing statement from the refinance. I suppose I will have to dig deeper into my original closing documents.

Do you have any idea if it matters if it is a lender's title insurance policy or an owner's policy?

[Russell Brazil]

Quote from @John Hogg:

Thanks so much for the advice Russell. I will see what I can do to reach out their way first.

I couldn't find any title insurance policy information on my closing statement from the refinance. I suppose I will have to dig deeper into my original closing documents.

Do you have any idea if it matters if it is a lender's title insurance policy or an owner's policy?

Id start with owners title insurance. but if you didnt buy it, then youll need to go to the lenders

[John Hogg]

Quote from @Russell Brazil:

Quote from @John Hogg:

Thanks so much for the advice Russell. I will see what I can do to reach out their way first.

I couldn't find any title insurance policy information on my closing statement from the refinance. I suppose I will have to dig deeper into my original closing documents.

Do you have any idea if it matters if it is a lender's title insurance policy or an owner's policy?

Id start with owners title insurance. but if you didnt buy it, then youll need to go to the lenders

 Okay great,

I reached out to our original title company today and confirmed original address was correct and had purchased an owner's policy with them on our original purchase.

They recommended reaching out to title company that did our refinance. Unfortunately so far all their phone numbers listed on line go nowhere..

our refinance closing only had a lenders title policy.

Thanks again for the advice.

[Alecia Loveless]

@John Hogg I’ve had this problem twice in the past two years where I’ve ended up getting billed for mistakes made due to problems not caught by the title company at the time of closing on two different properties.

Unfortunately for me both times had I not paid them I would have looked like a jerk in our local community and the lawyers would have gotten involved and come back after me.

It was two different title companies.

[Peter Walther]

Quote from @John Hogg:

Hi biggerpockets community,

I could use some advice on a situation that has come to light with my current lender.

I refinanced a duplex property in 02/2021 to a new lender.

I am just finding out today that during the refinance process the new lender/title company input the address incorrectly and only has one side of the duplex address included on title and not both addresses.

This incorrect adress situation has caused a series of insurance billing issues that i am just realizing and the lender will not let me include corrected addresses without proper title or usps confirmation.

Tax records with the county list me as current owner in the property address questioned.

Does anyone have experience dealing with title errors? Is this something I need to correct with prior title company or involve a real estate attorney?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

 I'm finding your post aa little confusing when you write that the title company "input' the address incorrectly.  Input it where?

If the property is in Idaho, you would have signed a Deed of Trust to secure the note for the loan. The DOT should have included the legal description of the property subject to the conveyance. Was the legal description for both sides of the duplex used or only one side?

If both sides, what address is the HO insurance company looking for and where does it expect to find them on the DOT?

[John Hogg]

Quote from @Peter Walther:

Quote from @John Hogg:

Hi biggerpockets community,

I could use some advice on a situation that has come to light with my current lender.

I refinanced a duplex property in 02/2021 to a new lender.

I am just finding out today that during the refinance process the new lender/title company input the address incorrectly and only has one side of the duplex address included on title and not both addresses.

This incorrect adress situation has caused a series of insurance billing issues that i am just realizing and the lender will not let me include corrected addresses without proper title or usps confirmation.

Tax records with the county list me as current owner in the property address questioned.

Does anyone have experience dealing with title errors? Is this something I need to correct with prior title company or involve a real estate attorney?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

 I'm finding your post aa little confusing when you write that the title company "input' the address incorrectly.  Input it where?

If the property is in Idaho, you would have signed a Deed of Trust to secure the note for the loan. The DOT should have included the legal description of the property subject to the conveyance. Was the legal description for both sides of the duplex used or only one side?

If both sides, what address is the HO insurance company looking for and where does it expect to find them on the DOT?

My apologies for the confusion.

I was able to find a quitclaim deed with the  propertie's legal description in my closing documents.

As far as I can tell, I am discovering the legal descriptions and tax parcel numbers from both title companies match.

However, the  tax assessor's office lists the opposite half of the address than my mortgage company has on file.

My insurance company requires both sides of the duplex address to be listed on policy.

I have still been unable to get in contact with the closing company from my refinance. 

I did finally get my lender to get someone involved in looking into what happened at closing.

[John Hogg]

Quote from @Alecia Loveless:

@John Hogg I’ve had this problem twice in the past two years where I’ve ended up getting billed for mistakes made due to problems not caught by the title company at the time of closing on two different properties.

Unfortunately for me both times had I not paid them I would have looked like a jerk in our local community and the lawyers would have gotten involved and come back after me.

It was two different title companies.

Sorry to hear that happened to you as well.

Definitely is frustrating to have to jump through hoops and deal with the issues and expenses caused by some of these title issues.

It would help if the title company my lender used would have a valid phone number to call..

Thanks for sharing your experiences as well!

[Peter Walther]

Quote from @John Hogg:

Quote from @Peter Walther:

Quote from @John Hogg:

Hi biggerpockets community,

I could use some advice on a situation that has come to light with my current lender.

I refinanced a duplex property in 02/2021 to a new lender.

I am just finding out today that during the refinance process the new lender/title company input the address incorrectly and only has one side of the duplex address included on title and not both addresses.

This incorrect adress situation has caused a series of insurance billing issues that i am just realizing and the lender will not let me include corrected addresses without proper title or usps confirmation.

Tax records with the county list me as current owner in the property address questioned.

Does anyone have experience dealing with title errors? Is this something I need to correct with prior title company or involve a real estate attorney?

Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

 I'm finding your post aa little confusing when you write that the title company "input' the address incorrectly.  Input it where?

If the property is in Idaho, you would have signed a Deed of Trust to secure the note for the loan. The DOT should have included the legal description of the property subject to the conveyance. Was the legal description for both sides of the duplex used or only one side?

If both sides, what address is the HO insurance company looking for and where does it expect to find them on the DOT?

My apologies for the confusion.

I was able to find a quitclaim deed with the  propertie's legal description in my closing documents.

As far as I can tell, I am discovering the legal descriptions and tax parcel numbers from both title companies match.

However, the  tax assessor's office lists the opposite half of the address than my mortgage company has on file.

My insurance company requires both sides of the duplex address to be listed on policy.

I have still been unable to get in contact with the closing company from my refinance. 

I did finally get my lender to get someone involved in looking into what happened at closing.

It sounds like the problem may be with the Assessor's office and not the settlement agent.  If you can't get ahold of the title agent that issued the policy, the lender should be able to submit a directly to the insurer at the contact information shown on the policy though the claim may be denied if the problem is with the Assessor.