Title issue

[nalnk]

What is the name of your state? PA

First, my house closed on monday. I would like the opinion of others as to what might have gone on here.

four days before i was originally scheduled to close, i received a call from my broker stating that the buyer's attorney's office found a problem with my title.
No-one knew what the problem was. I had no answers.

The next day (Tuesday) I called my attorney's office to find out what the problem was.
He didn't know exactly but said that they wanted to make sure that all of the previous sales of my property were done correctly. NOTE: I bought my land (to build a hous on it) from an individual and this person bought the land at tax auction. Prior to tax auction, someone is supposed to notify the public so that the owner can come forward to make good on his backowed taxes, etc. This was done obviously since I received title insurance.

Since no-one had answers, we could not close on Friday. Also, the couple that bought my house had to go on vacation that Saturday !!!!

I had to leave the state since I had already quit my job and the movers came as originally scheduled.

That following week (Thursday or Friday) I called the abstract company that holds my insurance/title policy. I explained what happened and she was confused. She told me that she never heard from anyone to check on my title. She pulled out my files and assured me that in the past 60 years and with all of the sales my property had (most on tax auction) every sale had a signature on it meaning all notices went out to the public prior to the sale.

I went ahead and notified my attorney's office (they didn't seem concerned about what happened). the paralegal said "oh,,,,, I just called the buyer's attorney and everything is wonderful and we're waiting for an amended title certificate blah blah blah. I told them that my insurance company had heard nothing and that I wanted some sort of proof that they buyer's attorney did actually request verification of a clean title. I think this was a scam to postpone my closing.

Opinions?

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? PA

First, my house closed on monday. I would like the opinion of others as to what might have gone on here.

four days before i was originally scheduled to close, i received a call from my broker stating that the buyer's attorney's office found a problem with my title.
No-one knew what the problem was. I had no answers.

The next day (Tuesday) I called my attorney's office to find out what the problem was.
He didn't know exactly but said that they wanted to make sure that all of the previous sales of my property were done correctly. NOTE: I bought my land (to build a hous on it) from an individual and this person bought the land at tax auction. Prior to tax auction, someone is supposed to notify the public so that the owner can come forward to make good on his backowed taxes, etc. This was done obviously since I received title insurance.

Since no-one had answers, we could not close on Friday. Also, the couple that bought my house had to go on vacation that Saturday !!!!

I had to leave the state since I had already quit my job and the movers came as originally scheduled.

That following week (Thursday or Friday) I called the abstract company that holds my insurance/title policy. I explained what happened and she was confused. She told me that she never heard from anyone to check on my title. She pulled out my files and assured me that in the past 60 years and with all of the sales my property had (most on tax auction) every sale had a signature on it meaning all notices went out to the public prior to the sale.

I went ahead and notified my attorney's office (they didn't seem concerned about what happened). the paralegal said "oh,,,,, I just called the buyer's attorney and everything is wonderful and we're waiting for an amended title certificate blah blah blah. I told them that my insurance company had heard nothing and that I wanted some sort of proof that they buyer's attorney did actually request verification of a clean title. I think this was a scam to postpone my closing.

Opinions?

Q: Opinions?

A: Yeah, Taco Bell really sucks, don't you think?



Anyway, did you have a legal question for us?

 

[nalnk]

My question would be..... did something unethical happen here.

Everytime I suggest that there was fowl play, my paralegal says.... the title got cleared up so lets move on.

I lived in a small town and everyone (professionals) know one another. No one seems to want to aggrevate the other and so they seem to let things slide.

 

[nextwife]

What is the name of your state? PA

First, my house closed on monday. I would like the opinion of others as to what might have gone on here.

four days before i was originally scheduled to close, i received a call from my broker stating that the buyer's attorney's office found a problem with my title.
No-one knew what the problem was. I had no answers.

The next day (Tuesday) I called my attorney's office to find out what the problem was.
He didn't know exactly but said that they wanted to make sure that all of the previous sales of my property were done correctly. NOTE: I bought my land (to build a hous on it) from an individual and this person bought the land at tax auction. Prior to tax auction, someone is supposed to notify the public so that the owner can come forward to make good on his backowed taxes, etc. This was done obviously since I received title insurance.

Since no-one had answers, we could not close on Friday. Also, the couple that bought my house had to go on vacation that Saturday !!!!

I had to leave the state since I had already quit my job and the movers came as originally scheduled.

That following week (Thursday or Friday) I called the abstract company that holds my insurance/title policy. I explained what happened and she was confused. She told me that she never heard from anyone to check on my title. She pulled out my files and assured me that in the past 60 years and with all of the sales my property had (most on tax auction) every sale had a signature on it meaning all notices went out to the public prior to the sale.

I went ahead and notified my attorney's office (they didn't seem concerned about what happened). the paralegal said "oh,,,,, I just called the buyer's attorney and everything is wonderful and we're waiting for an amended title certificate blah blah blah. I told them that my insurance company had heard nothing and that I wanted some sort of proof that they buyer's attorney did actually request verification of a clean title. I think this was a scam to postpone my closing.

Opinions?

SO DID anybody actually ORDER and obtain an CURRENT updated title commitment, searched up to the date of issuance for this transaction? Normally (in my market, at least) the sellers or their broker orders the title commitment in advance of the closing in order to provide the buyer evidence of good title. And it's not necessarilly ordered from the previous provider.

So did you or your attorney or your broker get an updated title ordered so you'd be ready to close?
So did or did not

 

[Zigner]

My opinion is that the title got cleared up, so you should move on.

 

[nalnk]

response to nextwife

The question is whether anyone ever requested information on whether the title was clean. In PA, titles are handled thru an abstract company. The abstract company that issued me my title when I first bought the property told me that no-one ever called them to verify a clean title. The woman I spoke with at the abstract company told me that if the buyer's mortgage comany actually did a title search and something was wrong, the lender would have/should have called the abstract company to verify information that is contained in my files. As I indicated in my original post, I think this was done to me so that the closing could be stalled so the kids could go on their vacation. For more of this horrific story on my real estate closing ordeal, please take a look at my other post "other real estate questions" - post is "security system".