Opening Escrow

Opening Escrow The Title Company moves you toward closing

Our title partners are here from the start to help us through this process. Once an offer on a property is accepted by the seller, the transaction is then placed into “escrow.”

Escrow is a term that describes neutral third-party handling of funds, documents, and tasks specific to the sale of the property. The purpose of escrow is to manage the disbursement of funds and documents for the buyer and seller in accordance with the written purchase and sale agreement.

A record of all real estate sales and events on all properties are filed in public archives. Before a title insurance policy is issued, the title company will do a title search of the records to see if there are any issues such as liens, levies, or encumbrances associated with the property. Some issues don’t show up on the title search, such as forgeries, filing errors, and undisclosed heirs, so title insurance protects the buyer from any unforeseen problems.

Title insurance is different than casualty insurance in that you pay a one-time fee, and it protects against the past (as opposed to future) events.

Some ‘clouds on title’ can be corrected relatively easily while others can become quite complicated to remove. You should insist on being kept informed of every step in the title examination process. If title problems are uncovered, you will want to understand your legal rights.

Title insurance is the best way to protect your buyer against title defects that have occurred in the past, which may not appear until after you’ve sold the property. It is required by the lender to purchase title insurance. In Oregon, the Seller purchases title insurance for the Buyer, while the Buyer purchases title insurance for their lender. Even in a cash sale, Seller’s typically purchase the insurance for the Buyer.