Title Company Hasn't Cleared Liens for My Refi. What do I do?

[Jack Barkow]

Hey BP,

Here is the background before I get to the main problems and why I am now feeling "uncomfortable."

I closed on a property in January of this year.  It was a cash deal and everything went smoothly.  I am now in the process of doing delayed financing on the property.  The appraisal is done and the bank has everything done that they need to do.  My mortgage broker called me yesterday and said that the title company (same one that I used for closing) sent back the title information with liens still on the property.  The previous owner had done a "quiet title" and the title company saved around 45k at closing to clear the title since they were insuring it.

So today I hear that the title company will send back new title information saying that the title is all clear now so that we can proceed with the closing of the mortgage.  This has already delayed my target closing date about a week, which was locked in with the interest rate.

My main concerns are as follows:

1.  This seems really sketchy.  Why are they going to say there were still liens then the next day say that there are none?

2.  Why didn't the title company do the work to clear all the liens on the title already since it has been about 2 months since closing.

3.  Should I still move forward with closing on my own "lien" knowing that the title might not be free and clear yet?

4.  I'm calling the title company tomorrow to try and see what is going on.  Is there anything specific I should be asking/saying to them (maybe to put some pressure on them, but also to ensure that everything will be alright)?

5.  Is the title company liable for any "damages" considering that pushing out the closing on the loan will require either the mortgage company or myself to incur some cost in extending the interest rate lock.  Its probably only 1-200 bucks but still.

6.  Is it odd that the seller isn't bugging the title company to get the title all clear so that they can release the remainder/leftover money that they held to them since they are still waiting on that money from the sale?