What Happens To My Transaction After Funding?

In the traditional real estate transaction, be it a sale or refinance of the subject property, it is the Escrow, the repository for all documents, agreements and funds, that should direct the transaction, pursuant to instructions from the parties to the transaction, buyer, seller, lender, etc.

The Title Company takes their instruction from the Escrow Company at all times. The Escrow Company opens the initial title order, receives the Preliminary Report and advises the Title Company as to what items on the report are acceptable and which the parties wish removed. The Title Company will then advise the Escrow as to what items it needs or what steps might be taken to remove the objectionable items. When all objectionable matters have been cleared from the Title Report, and all other contingencies in the transaction have been met, the Escrow Company may contact the Lender and request funding. Sometimes the Lender takes this task upon them and notifies the Escrow Company, after funding. In any case, the funds are then transmitted to the Title Company, normally via wire transfer and are received by the Title Company’s bank. At the time the funds are requested, the Escrow may authorize recordation with the Title Company.

Once the Escrow Company has called to “set-up” the recording, the Title Company confirms receipt of all
documents, funds and statements of information and transmits the documents to the County Recorder for recordation. At the same time, the Title Unit forwards all demands, title fees and taxes due to the Title Company Sub Escrow Department. Upon confirmation of recording, the Sub Escrow Department pays off the demands and taxes and collects the title fees from proceeds, forwarding the remainder to the Escrow Company.

Important things to remember

• Review funding requirements with your client as early as possible. This will allow both the Title and Escrow Companies to timely assist your client in clearing some of those “last minute” issues.
• If your escrow company changes banks, be sure that your Title Officer is notified. We have actually had a couple of instances lately where funds were wired to a bank no longer used by escrow. It can be difficult and costly to retrieve these fund, not to mention the PR damage it can do to your client relationship.
• Statements of information MUST be sent to your title company BEFORE funding of the loan. The sooner your Title Officer gets this information, the less likely you are to have a funding day “disaster.”
• If your transaction involves a “credit line” Deed of Trust, review the lender’s requirements for payoff. Most often, this type of payoff will involve a letter that must be obtained from your client. Lenders will not “freeze” these accounts without receiving this letter and Title Companies cannot pay off accounts that are not “frozen” (Unfrozen accounts can still be accessed by the borrower).
• If you have any questions or concerns about post funding matters, contact your Title or Escrow officer. When working with knowledgeable and experienced professionals, and, with a little patience, most catastrophes can be quickly resolved.
• FHA payoffs require that the Lender being paid off received the entire payoff amount on or before the first of the month. If your transaction closes on a Friday, at the end of a given month, your Title Company will compute and collect the next months payment as part of the payoff. The reason for this is that the receiving lender generally has a “cutoff” time for receiving payoff wires. Especially with those transactions involving payoff of an “East Coast Lender”, there is no guarantee that, even though the wire may be sent out early onthe following Monday, the lender will receive the payoff funds before the cutoff time. As an alternative, you may request that your Title Company “hold” this additional month’s payment pending verification of the payoff lender’s acceptance of the wire as full payoff of the loan. In this circumstance, the Sub EscrowDepartment will confirm acceptance of the payoff and, if accepted, will forward the funds held to Escrow for disbursement. IF THIS IS AN OPTION YOU WISH TO EXERCISE, LET YOUR ESCROW COMPANY KNOW PRIOR TO FUNDING so that they can then properly advise the Title company prior to close. We hope that this information will help you to understand some post closing procedures and problems that may
  occur after funding.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact your Escrow or Title Professional.