Our Escrow Process

To open escrow the Buyer will deposit the earnest money with the escrow company. This is called the earnest money deposit or EMD if we're using Realtor jargon. Basically, these are good faith funds held by the escrow company letting the Seller know you are serious about purchasing the property. The amount of earnest money is agreed upon within the purchase agreement.

A detailed search of the title connected to the property is conducted and reviewed by multiple parties for inaccuracies and/or issues which would prevent providing clear title to transfer ownership. Once this is completed a Title Commitment is issued.

In any real estate transaction there could be up to 20 different people involved in getting the property transferred to a new owner. Along the way many of these individuals will need to review the various documents associated with the property. For example, the lender will need to review the preliminary title report as part of their loan checklist.

Your escrow officer will order payoff demands from the Seller's mortgage company, the HOA company, water company and sewer/trash company to make sure that clear title is transferred to the Buyer. They will also provide a breakdown of prorations based on the contract and closing date of the transaction so that the various companies are paid current.

The escrow officer will set-up appointments for all parties and arrange for a mobile notary for out of town parties to the transaction. Your signature will need to be notarized on some documents and the escrow company provides this service as part of their process. They will also let you know the amount you will receive from your proceeds of the sale or how much you need to bring in to complete the transaction.

Once all documents have been fully executed the escrow officer will verify that all terms of the contract have been met, send the executed documents back to the lender, and request the funds from the lender to complete the transaction.

Once all funds have been received by the escrow company the escrow officer will send the appropriate documents to the County Recorder to transfer the ownership. Once the recording is confirmed the escrow officer will disburse funds to all parties to the transaction per the contract. This could include the following: mortgage payoffs, lien payoffs, commissions, reimbursements, etc.