What can a title report show?

Before you can go to settlement you have to have a title report done which will reveal loans on the property (including loans that were paid off but have not had a release recorded), law suits, liens or judgments that can attach to the property, any Rights of Way, Easements, or Covenants that can affect a property, and who owns the property (ex. you may think you do but some heir from 50 years ago legally owns a percentage because the title to the land was never deeded properly).

There can be some pretty amazing things that an abstractor can find. For instance here are a couple from my husband, Brad Whidden, who has been an abstractor for almost 15 years.

Brad says, “In the 1800's in Frederick there is a deed where they declared a farmer insane and took away his farm and deeded it to someone else. Why? Because someone walked by his barn and saw him [doing the dirty] with one of his pigs. They described it in detail on the deed.”

Another one Brad mentioned is, “A few years ago this [lady] in Montgomery County got a few people on board who owned property and tried to declare that due to the failures of George Bush and the government these properties were no longer part of the United States but they were now their own separate country and were therefore not subject to the US Dollar. They actually recorded deeds saying this. Then they stopped paying the taxes and mortgages on it. Needless to say, that did not pan out for them.”

As you can see, there could be some crazy things jump out of the woodwork when you have a title run on the property you or your clients plan to purchase! In the end though, that’s why you need to have the title report run and even better that’s why you buy title insurance! Also, choose a settlement company, such as Lawyers Signature Settlements, that can provide you with the best service to clear up these types of issues before you go to the settlement table.

I would love to hear your comments on this one folks! What kind of crazy title issues have you seen?

By Lisa Whidden
Marketing Representative
Lawyers Signature Settlements, LLC

Do you trust your employees?

This question may be simple or complex depending on how well you really know your employees. These days, I hope you are taking the time to choose wisely. There are many factors that go into this and in the Real Estate market, you can’t be too careful! As a settlement company, we have to uphold the highest standards in choosing trustworthy people because we are handling the money in the transaction. We are trusted by our clients and we take that very seriously.

I attended a best practices presentation earlier this week by the MLTA that really put this into perspective and made me start thinking more about how this is affecting our industry. They had so much great information on the subject. Did you know that it is often times the most trusted employee that ends up steeling from their employers?

According to Statistic Brain, $50,000,000,000 is stolen annually from U.S. businesses by employees. How can you make better decisions to hire more trustworthy people? Let’s take a look at some ways.

Do background checks. In an economy at the height of Short Sales, Foreclosures and Bankruptcies, you never really know what the true financial situation is for your employees. If they have collection companies hounding them every day and they owe more money than they have, it can be tempting for them to look at other ways of generating it. Make background checks part of your hiring checklist!

Dig deeper than references. One recent recommendation I heard from a seminar at Keller Williams which I thought was great was to ask each reference for a reference to go deeper down the line. If someone seems absolutely squeaky clean, they might be too good to be true. Another great way to dig deeper is to check out their social networking profiles.

Do they fit into your culture? When you meet someone for the first time, it will be hard to tell if they will fit in. Do more than one interview and make sure that your other employees meet them and then get their input. This is another area where scanning through their social media will help you!

By Lisa Whidden

lisa@signaturesettlements.com
Marketing Representative
Lawyers Signature Settlements, LLC