Hello, my name is Dawn Thomas, and I’m with Silicon Valley and Beyond TV, and today I’m here to talk to you about the role of the title company in your real estate transaction.

Primarily they act as a neutral third party in your transaction. They gather all of the pertinent information, signed off by both buyers and sellers, and sometimes agents, but they collect all of the information and act on instructions that are only signed off by everybody.

The escrow officer who’s assigned by the title company to your particular transaction also provides an estimated closing statement which allocates all of the costs and fees associated with your transaction. They do things like hold the buyers earnest money deposit and collect of the funds associated with the transaction to make a successful close. Your escrow officer or a notary public will be with you to sign your loan documents if you’re a buyer, and as well as with the seller. They will meet you in person, go over all of the documents – ’cause believe me there’s a lot of legalese in these things – and make sure that you have a good understanding. They act as a neutral, somewhat of a bank, again neutral third party in holding a buyers deposit and any of the additional funds that come in towards the close of escrow.

The title company will offer you two different types of title insurance, both are required by your lender. One is for the title itself and one is for the lender’s policy, and quite frankly both of these are to really protect the lender, these ensure that the title is clean and that there’s no encumbrances on the property. There are various different levels of title insurance. I don’t have time to get into the details of all those today, but please do contact me if you need any more information, because it is a pretty complicated subject.

So, these are just a few of the things that the title company handles for you in the process of your escrow and your real estate transaction. If you have need for more information, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Again my name is Dawn Thomas and I’m with Silicon Valley and Beyond TV. Thanks for tuning in!