The Benefit of Closing at the End of the Month!

Closing a real estate transaction at month end mainly means lowering your out of pocket expenses at the time of closing. The bulk of these expenses comes from "prepaid interest" that you pay on your mortgage.

Most loan payments are due on the first day of the month. Since interest on your mortgage begins from the date your transaction closes, you may be required to "pre-pay" interest between the closing date and the end of the month.

Here are a couple of scenarios:

If you plan to close on your home on the 29th of September, you would be required to bring in one day's worth of prepaid interest at the time of closing to cover September's interest. After you close, you would make your first mortgage payment on November 1st, where you would be paying October's interest.

If you plan to close this coming Friday (October 2nd), you would prepay 29 days of interest. In this scenario, you would need to bring in more cash to close than you would have if you closed on the 29th or 30th of September, just a few days earlier.

Of course the upside to the second scenario is, your first mortgage payment wouldn't be due until December 1st. You would simply need to bring in more money at the time of closing.

For more information on Closings or to find out how California Title can help you on your next transaction, please contact your Sales Representative or email californiatitle@caltitle.com.

The Benefits of Electronic Preliminary Reports.

California Title Company is now providing Electronic Preliminary Reports, complete with documents accessed via hyperlink, sent to your email inbox.

A Preliminary Report is a report prepared prior to issuing a policy of title insurance. This report shows the ownership of a specific parcel of land, together with the liens and encumbrances thereon which will not be covered under a subsequent title insurance policy.

This report is a benefit to both your buyer and your seller. From the seller's perspective, the preliminary report shows items that may need to be cleared prior to transferring ownership of the property, or clear title to the property.

From the buyer's perspective, the report can give details on specific documents pertaining to the parcel they are buying. Items like Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, or Road Maintenance Agreements will be mentioned and a copy of the document can be obtained for further review.

Having hyperlinks to documents in an electronic Preliminary Report gives you access to the important items of the report, at the convenience of your personal computer. Electronically delivering them is also easy on the environment and a time saver.

How can you get the benefit of this incredible tool:

1. When opening escrow, request California Title Company

2. Ask your escrow officer to include "all items" in the PR (Preliminary Report)

3. Request the PR be emailed to you.

That's it! The email will be delivered to your inbox when the report is complete and is no larger than a normal email.

For more information, contact your Sales Representative or email Californiatitle@caltitle.com.

How to close your Real Estate Transaction ON TIME!

It's Monday morning, and I can't help but think of the amount of homes that need to be bought or sold. In some cases, people want to take advantage of unbelievable home prices and low interest rates to buy their second home or move up with their existing home. In other cases, sellers have fallen victim to adjusting mortgage rates, credit crunches, job loss, and other factors that force them out of their home.

For one reason or another, people still want to, and need to buy and sell real estate.

For a buyer it may be their first home and they’re looking forward to taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. Maybe they’re purchasing a second home or a home for their parents or children.

A homebuyer gets excited about a lot of things during escrow. One thing he or she does NOT get excited about is closing a deal late. Especially when their bad news arrives on a Friday morning, while they’re loading a moving truck at their current residence.

How can you avoid giving your clients bad news? Get a Statement of Information filled out from the seller of the property, and get it to California Title as soon as possible.

In this day and age, there are several complications that can come from a seller’s tax lien or judgment. These complications take time and effort to resolve. When a title company receives a Statement of Information, it runs the seller’s history with possible complications or clouds on the title of the home they’re selling. If complications arise, the title company has time to deal with them or at least let all parties know in advance.

In most cases, if the title company gets the Statement of Information late and finds a problem, it cannot solve the problem without delaying the close of escrow.

Please take a look at the attached flyer, and stay informed so that you can close MORE deals ON TIME!

For more information, please contact your California Title Sales Representative.

Different Types of Ownership

Chuck Bishop, our Senior Title Officer, explains the different types of ownership in real property.

For more information on Ask Chuck, contact your Sales Representative, or email me with your own title question and get it answered!

Consumer Resources

Here are some valuable articles that will help you understand Title Insurance, what it covers, how it's affected, and other related pieces. Check back often as we are always updating!