Lee Ginsburg

What is closing or escrow and what is involved in opening escrow?
October 21, 2011 · · 1 Comment

signing

Closing is when all the funds are disbursed to the seller, lender, other lien holders, taxes etc. and the property transfer from seller to buyer is recorded in the County’s Recorder’s office. This is legally when the buyer becomes the property owner. This is generally the time when the buyer receives the keys to their new home. Many people get the closing and signing confused. “Signing” is only signing the loan documents and that generally occurs several days prior to closing.

Escrow is the period between both parties signing the purchase contract and closing. Opening Escrow is a simple process. It occurs when the buyer’s good faith deposit is placed in the hands of a neutral third party. In Northern Californian we do this with a Title and Escrow Company. The Escrow Company holds the deposit in a bonded account until both the buyer and seller have fulfilled their obligations under the purchase contract. The escrow company is a neutral third party and will not release the funds either to the buyer if the contract is cancelled or to the seller if the contract is fulfilled unless both parties have signed instructions stating so. Basically Escrow begins with the deposit check being given to the escrow company and ends at closing.

Escrow should not get confused with an escrow account. An escrow account is an impound account or reserve account generally for property tax and home owners insurance. It is requested by lenders based on the type loan the buyer is getting.

It is Better To Own Real Estate and Wait Than to Wait to Own Real Estate

Lee Ginsburg
www.leesellsmore.com

Nicole Machado

Are you even trying to close this deal??
March 5, 2009 · · 8 Comments

 string_phone1I recently entered escrow on an REO property (Foreclosure) representing the buyers. With any escrow you enter you want to make sure you have your ducks in a row, but when it comes to REO transactions make sure you read the fine print. Some include passive contingencies which mean that if you don’t pull contingencies in writing on the said date written in the contract, they will pull them for you. This runs the risk of potentially forfeiting your client’s good faith deposit, if for some reason you have to end up canceling the transaction. Read more