Keen Title Examiner Discovers Forgery
The vesting on the open order sheet did not match the vested owner of record. That is not an unusual discovery in the title industry, but this time it triggered the title examiner to dig deeper and to uncover a forgery! One of our sister branches in Denver opened a sale transaction in the amount […]
Alert Escrow Officer Foils Forgery
Traci F., an escrow officer out of our sister office in Vancouver, Wash. was handling a short sale transaction. According to the listing agent, the property owner was unavailable to sign his closing documents because he was in the Ukraine. The agent also said the owner was not going to be able to come back […]
Why Altered Checks for Earnest Money are Unacceptable
Settlement agents are regularly pressured into accepting altered checks (which they should not) for earnest money. This usually occurs when the buyer’s original offer to the seller indicates one escrow company and then, somewhere in the negotiations, the principals agree on another escrow company. Real estate agents do not want to go back and ask […]
Betrayed with an Uninsured Deed…
An escrow officer in one of our sister operations opened a purchase transaction for $347,000. She ordered the title report and the order was assigned to Casandra, a commercial title officer. Casandra issued the report reflecting two owners of record: Maysa Alhelow, a single woman and Thomas Paul Helo, a married man as his sole […]