Information in deed is incorrect. Closing is tomorrow morning! (sale, 2014) - Northern Virginia - Virginia (VA) - City-Data Forum

LoveAlbuquerque · 09-25-2014, 06:45 PM

I have an urgent situation here.

My closing is tomorrow. The title company just sent me the deed. Three things appear incorrect:

1) The sale date should be tomorrow (26th day of September, 2014). However, it says sale date is "8th day of August, 2014".

2) The transaction should be between a relocation company and me. But instead, it says the owners and me. BTW, a separate deed between the owners and the relocation company has already been signed by them.

3) The address location of the property is missing. The only descriptor of the property is "Condominium Unit No. ***, ******* CONDOMINIUM (condominium community name)". This may not uniquely identify the property, as there are 4 different addresses in the community.

I brought these to the attention of the title company. They have not answered #1 or #2.

They don't want to make any change for #3.

If they insist on me signing the documents with a sale date of August 8 (instead of Sept 26) tomorrow, what should I do?

L Nobles · 09-25-2014, 06:53 PM

I wouldn't sign unless you are 100% comfortable signing. The issue with signing with the wrong date is that you are going to pay taxes from that date in August, which up here will be a few hundred dollars I'm sure.

LoveAlbuquerque · 09-25-2014, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by L Nobles

I wouldn't sign unless you are 100% comfortable signing. The issue with signing with the wrong date is that you are going to pay taxes from that date in August, which up here will be a few hundred dollars I'm sure.

My agent suggested waiting for the lawyers to come up with an explanation for the August 8 date. But now matter how they explain, I don't want to sign the document with the wrong date, because it's not true.

BTW, the loan document has all the calculation based on the settlement date of Sept 26, including prorated tax and HOA.

cully · 09-25-2014, 10:06 PM

What did happen Aug 8? Is that when you wrote the contract or finalized it? Or was that when there was a change with the relo company?

The relo company. Sometimes they'll do that. So are you saying the owners signed over the house to the relo company? Then, they are the owners.

I would want the address.

I hope the settlement office doesn't use this title company again.

LoveAlbuquerque · 09-26-2014, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cully

What did happen Aug 8? Is that when you wrote the contract or finalized it? Or was that when there was a change with the relo company?

The relo company. Sometimes they'll do that. So are you saying the owners signed over the house to the relo company? Then, they are the owners.

I would want the address.

I hope the settlement office doesn't use this title company again.

I am not aware of any event associated with the condo on August 8.

The condo came onto the market towards the end of August. I scheduled a tour almost immediately and made an offer. My agent prepared an initial contract to have me sign on August 29.

However, they said I must sign with a relocation company instead of the current owner. They said the owners would transfer their title to the relo company, who would then transfer the title to me.

Therefore, I assume the owners probably transferred their title to the relocation company on August 8.

Some lawyer probably made a mistake by simply copying the initial deed (between the owners and the relo company) without changing the names and the sale date.

I'm not sure if I can close today though. My agent asked me to wait and see what the title company would say. If they agree to make these changes, they'll have to get the relo company to sign the changed deed, and notarize the deed again.

I'm surprised that the lawyer, the owners, and the notary public didn't read the deed carefully before they signed.

LoveAlbuquerque · 09-26-2014, 05:53 AM

I doubt the owners transferred their titles to the relo company on August 8.

About a week ago, I went to the county land records department and searched for the titles of the condo. The only owner I found was the current owners. There was no record of title of the relocation company since August 8.

cully · 09-26-2014, 07:07 AM

It's too mixed up and badly handled for you to get involved with.

Usually the relo companies have a person in touch with the owner. Your agent should be sure the seller's agent is on this. The relo company can be handy at times like this. Not generally a fan of their brash way and their 40% fee out of the realtor's commission which is sometimes below the usual anyway but when they want something to happen they can sometimes be helpful.

Be sure the seller's agent in the area is working well on this. They don't get paid well by relo companies and the money is in doing a lot of these or some other ways of handling it so that this house might not have full attention.

LoveAlbuquerque · 09-26-2014, 11:28 AM

L Nobles and Cully,

I appreciate your suggestions!

To give you an update: The lawyer at the title company didn't want to make any changes to the deed. He told me that they would use today's date as the title transfer date despite the "sale date" of August 8.

He explained that August 8 was when the owners started looking for a buyer. They were confident they would be able to find a buyer because the relo company promised to help them find one. That was why they signed a title transfer document BEFORE they even found a buyer! Since there was no buyer at that time, they left the buyer's name blank. Later they found a buyer (me) and filled in the blank (my name). The lawyer asked me to ignore the sale date of August 8. He explained the title transfer date would be the recording date, which is today.

As for transferring from the owners instead of the relo company, he explained they had decided it would be easier to transfer the title to me directly from the owners instead of the relo company, as they originally suggested.

As for not mentioning the property address in the deed, he said legal name for the condo is the unit # in the condominium with the book # and page # in the county records. He said he was a lawyer so he knew what he was doing.

They also told me that they should not have shown me the deed, as it was not part of the closing documents. The only documents I should sign at closing were about loan / tax / homeowner insurance payments.

So I signed all the paperwork (the loan documents), and believe that they will use today's date as transfer date.

The process seemed a bit counter-intuitive.

spencgr · 09-26-2014, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoveAlbuquerque

He said he was a lawyer so he knew what he was doing.

More laughable words have never been spoken; and I'm married to an attorney.

L Nobles · 09-26-2014, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoveAlbuquerque

L Nobles and Cully,

They also told me that they should not have shown me the deed, as it was not part of the closing documents. The only documents I should sign at closing were about loan / tax / homeowner insurance payments.

So I signed all the paperwork (the loan documents), and believe that they will use today's date as transfer date.

The process seemed a bit counter-intuitive.

HUH? The deed is what conveys the property from one owner to another? How were you to not have seen it?

The trust me, I'm an attorney line is laughable to me as well. 3/4 of them don't have a clue what they're doing (and yes, I am married to one who would agree with me 100% as well).

Congrats on the home purchase!