What is the Statement of Information?
Upon the opening of escrow, Buyers and Sellers receive their initial escrow package – the Statement of Information (also known as the Statement of Identity) is included in this package for completion and return to the escrow holder.
The statement of information is a one page document which requests the party’s [...]

The escrow process can be a complicated and often technical necessity of buying and selling real estate.  The escrow company and its officer have many duties to juggle on behalf of the Realtor, Seller, and Buyer during the real estate transaction.  Understanding the various duties and functions of the escrow can assist all parties in [...]

How would you react if you had a limited amount of funds in the bank to pay for closing costs and then were hit with hundreds of dollars in extra “unexpected” closing costs? This is a problem that the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) was enacted to eliminate. The goal of RESPA is stop [...]

What is a title binder? No, it’s not the binder you take to keep your notes in concerning your title and escrow proceedings. It IS something that you should know about to save money if plan on selling your home within 2 years after its purchase.
A title binder, also known as an interim binder, is [...]

In these tough economic times, many homes have been languishing on the market, making it difficult for Sellers to move on to other homes and locations.  In order to make a sale, a Seller can offer to do a “carryback”.  A carryback loan, also known as a “seller carryback” or “seller’s second”, is a loan [...]

If you are either in the process of buying or selling a foreclosure property, understanding the basic terms will help you ask appropriate questions of your REALTOR, the escrow officer, the lender or other parties involved in the transaction. This can expedite the timeframe of the process for everyone involved.
Below are the most common terms [...]

This is the second article (see the first one here) in our series on the specific terms and phrases you can encounter during a real estate transaction. The language of escrow and the real estate transaction doesn’t need to be a stumbling block; once you know the terms, these words become what they are meant [...]

One of an escrow officer’s simpler jobs is calculating the amount of property tax that is payable by the buyer and the seller on any given real estate transaction. One of the agent’s tougher jobs can be explaining to the buyer why they may get an official property tax adjustment bill months after the sale [...]

Real estate transactions, and the escrow processes that make then happen, sometimes have a level of industry jargon that can be confusing or intimidating to buyers and sellers who aren’t familiar with the meaning behind the words.
This is the first in a series of definitional posts designed to better inform buyers and sellers about the [...]

Closing fees are a prickly part of any real estate deal. This is where everybody involved in the sale and transfer – lenders, lawyers, government agencies, and the escrow company – add their numbers to the bottom line. Perhaps the worst thing about closing fees is that they often seem to come as a surprise. [...]