Settlement 3 months ago, title company never recorded deed

[Lynn McGeein]

Contacted the title company as never got copy of recorded deed or owners title insurance in the mail -- it was a short sale and bank required that we use their closing company. Closed 3 months ago. Just got an answer back from the title company (I was copied on an email to her boss) that said, Should have info shortly. Need to send one more document to the abstractor.

Is this normal? I've never gone this long without getting copies of my recorded deed and owners title policy. Should I just be patient? Should I contact my realtor or loan officer? Or should I be getting an attorney?

[William D.]

If they disbursed escrow three month ago and your deed wasn't recorded something is definitely wrong. I've seen crazy things happen like staff quitting or deeds being mailed to the wrong places but 3 months is a long time. I would call up and patiently stay on the phone until you talk to someone who can tell you exactly what is going on. You can cross check this info against the info on record in your town/county recording office.

[Lynn McGeein]

William, Thanks for the response. The city still has the last owner on record. They generate their water bills only to the owner of record here, and the city utility rep says it automatically changes billing when a new owner is recorded in the records. I've been wondering why I haven't received a water bill yet either, thinking maybe they come every quarter or something. Now, I'm assuming the mail is forwarding it as it's still in the last owner's name, and he's probably not paying it. I had my suspicions when I had to call the title company a week after closing to ask why the insurance hadn't been paid yet, but they paid it as soon as I called. Just wondering why they are saying "need to send one more document to the abstractor." That sounds like they haven't even done the proper research they are supposed to complete BEFORE settlement, not afterwards, right?

[Donna Smolinski]

First of all, call your RE agent that represented you. Find out if he/she considers the title company reputible and ask her to provide you with name/number of someone higher up in the company. If your agt is not too familiar with this company, do your own research and start from the top... get a hold of branch mgr (at the very least). I'm curious, did the listing agt choose the title company or did the SS lender choose them?? If the listing agt pushed an unreputible title company on you, he/she could have some issues to deal with here.

If you received the policy OR the deed, I wouldn't be overly concerned, but since you didn't receive either one.... hmmmmm! If you don't get a GOOD response from the title company, stick the challenge on your agent. If you don't get satisfactory responses within a few days of that, then unfortunately, I suggest getting an attorney. Let your agent know that you will need to get an attorney involved if this doesn't get resolved in a timely fashion.

Good luck.... keep us posted.

[Ade O.]

As crazy as it may sound, it depends on which county the property is located in, I know in Prince George"s county Maryland they are slow in recording change of ownership and deed, but from your earlier post it sounds like the fault is with the title company.

[Donna Smolinski]

yea, some counties are VERY slow, but he hasn't received the title insurance policy yet... the combination of the two is what makes it concerning. It shouldn't take 3 months to get the title policy.

[Brian P.]

I don't care who picked the title company and i would call and tell them what you want done and you want it done now. If not you will be contacting the state regulatory agency to file a complaint and have them investigate if instead of being nuetral they are catering to the bank.

[Daniel Doran]

Lynn,

I've been in the title business in NY, CT and FL for over 20 years. The answer they gave you makes absolutely no sense unless they do not do their own policies in house and are waiting for their abstractor to complete it for them.

Before they can do your title insurance policy they have to get the recorded deed back from the clerk. The reason is the policy states the book and page the deed was recorded in. So if the deed hasn't been recorded yet, they can't do the policy.

Three months to get a deed recorded sounds like a mixup to me. Granted there are counties that are slow in getting documents back to the title company but what it sounds like here is more than likely the document was returned to them because there was a mistake with it. Either they mailed it to the wrong county, or they mailed it with insufficient funds to record, something. Whatever the case, they had to resend it to the clerk and are waiting for it to come back.

Contacting your realtor or loan officer isn't going to really help much. All they can do is call the title company and complain, just like you. What you need to do is look at the title commitment that was issued before closing. See who the title company's underwriter is, and contact them directly. They will get to the bottom of it asap because they are on the hook to insure you if something went wrong. Almost every underwriter requires documents to be filed within 30 days of closing. Believe me if the title company get's a call from their underwriter they will run down to the clerk's office to get that document back.

Hope this helps and good luck.

[Lynn McGeein]

Thanks for the replies. I have called the title company, but just get sent to voice mail and supervisor out of office. So yesterday, I wrote the Maryland Insurance Compliance and Enforcement people, although not asking to file a formal complaint yet, just asking what steps to take. The short sale bank made it a condition that we use their closing company, so we did, thinking BB&T would use a reputable firm. Unfortunately, they are located in Virginia and had a closing at my realtor's office, so even more complicated than normal. I will file a formal complaint if I don't hear back by early next week. I also contacted my realtor (thanks for the tip) and our loan officer to see if they have any dealings with this title company and can help. I told my husband we're not actually sure if we own our house. He said, That's ok, that's why we have title insurance. I said, No, actually, we paid for title insurance, but we don't know if we have it. So, hope it's cleared up soon. What a pickle.

[Donna Smolinski]

It was nice that Daniel saw your post, as he's got alot of experience in the field and made some good comments. It's a real PITA when these lenders insist on us using their choice of services. I had the absolutely WORST escrow experience in my 35 yrs of real estate because B of A required us to use an escrow company (out of area), that they are affiliated with. Sure, they allow you to pick your own escrow & title company, but then they won't pay for the seller's title policy. It sucks!

Hope you get this resolved quickly. Do you use attorneys as closing agents in your state or escrow companies?? See if the closing agent can assist... probably will be more proficient to assist than your realtor or loan officer. And Daniel made a good point.... who is the underwriter??

[Lynn McGeein]

Thank you very much Daniel & Donna! Now at least I know what I'm looking for. And my realtor just e-mailed me her copies of the Title Commitment Letter and the Closing Protection Letter from North American Title, so I'm going to e-mail the contacts there and see if they can help in any way. Daniel, I'm assuming this North American Title is what you mean by the title company's "underwriter." If not, can you please explain who that would be?

[Steve Babiak]

That's a correct assumption IMO.

[Ann Bellamy]

Originally posted by Lynn M.:
William, Thanks for the response. The city still has the last owner on record. They generate their water bills only to the owner of record here, and the city utility rep says it automatically changes billing when a new owner is recorded in the records. I've been wondering why I haven't received a water bill yet either, thinking maybe they come every quarter or something. Now, I'm assuming the mail is forwarding it as it's still in the last owner's name, and he's probably not paying it. I had my suspicions when I had to call the title company a week after closing to ask why the insurance hadn't been paid yet, but they paid it as soon as I called. Just wondering why they are saying "need to send one more document to the abstractor." That sounds like they haven't even done the proper research they are supposed to complete BEFORE settlement, not afterwards, right?

The name on city records doesn't necessarily reflect whether the deed was recorded, the city can take a lot longer than the Registry.

What matters the most is whether your deed was recorded with the Registry, which is usually run by the county, not the city. If the deed was recorded, then even if you don't have the original, you are still the owner of record. Most of the time you can find the Registry online and check yourself.

The steps you are taking with the title company (underwriter) are the most important.

And as a point of information, I prefer to pay for title insurance myself than to accept the seller's or lender's title policy. There can be lots of exclusions in that policy that you would not accept if you paid for it yourself.

[Lynn McGeein]

Ann, Good to know, and I will definitely be more careful choosing in the future. I just assumed a bank like BB&T would use a reputable firm and owner's title is owner's title, but looks like they probably used the lowest bidder instead and it's not the same. I have title companies in other areas that I use, just not here in MD. I did already talk to the Anne Arundel County land records people who have nothing on file in my or my husband's name. Online registry still has old owner, as I've been checking it, but it's been down periodically for upgrades, so wasn't sure how accurate it was. I did find out that the abstractor part does happen after settlement, as they said it could mean it was rejected and needs more documentation before recording, but usually not still an issue 3 months later, and records dept seemed to think it weird that our names are not in their system at all, like maybe if it was ever rejected, a file would be open, and it's not, although that part wasn't clear. They just told me to contact the regulatory department in charge. At least I feel I have a lot more understanding of the process and am not just flailing around out here, so greatly appreciate all the information from everyone.

[Ann Bellamy]

Lynn M.,
actually, "owners title is owner's title" is not accurate. And even a reputable bank is operating in their best interest, not yours.

There is a big difference between "marketable" and "insurable" and an owner's title paid for by the seller can have exclusions that make it not marketable. I run into this every day, when I fund buyers who have a contract written by the seller that guarantees "insurable" title, and we won't fund without "marketable" title.

This can mean the difference between the end buyer's lender funding the deal or not funding the deal, and makes a big difference.

[Lynn McGeein]

Ann, that's what I meant when I said I just assumed those things -- I naively thought that at least the settlement part would be uniform, basic steps they all follow and same guidelines for all, but, No, now I'm finding out that even that part is all cloudy, too, even though it shouldn't be. I used to think attorneys were the way to go, but the first time we used an attorney (back in late '80s), we had problems with missing files. Tried an attorney again 3 years ago in NC thinking it's better to have someone actually representing me, and they lost my $29,000 cashier's check after settlement, and the bank wouldn't reissue it for 30 days, creating all sorts of issues. I had one great title company in Virginia that I used frequently, but don't know one in Maryland. At least by the end of this, I'll know more than I ever wanted to about title companies.

[Ann Bellamy]

Lynn M., most of us have to learn the title issue thing the hard way, so don't think you are the only one.

And I think it would be in your best interest to find a GOOD attorney in your area. You have to keep looking, it takes a while to find the good ones. After being in the lending business for a while, I do now have several good attorneys in multiple states, and have great resources when I have a question or an issue.

Also, there is a saying about contractors which I think applies to attorneys, or probably any profession, actually.

Good
Cheap
Fast
You can get two out of three, but you will almost never get all three together. My attorney, who is not cheap, laughed at that one.

[Lynn McGeein]

Just wanted to update and let everyone know that the Maryland Insurance Administration has filed a complaint on my part and has ordered the title company to produce all records and accounting of their attempts to record deed, along with their producers' licenses. In addition, the underwriting title company has also filed a complaint and told me they would have an answer within 30 days, so thank you to everyone for all your knowledge and advice -- would not have gotten this far on my own as this info is very scarce online.