Happy New Year! Best Wishes for Us All for 2008

First off, I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. This past Thursday 12/27, there were no settlements in or out of our office. Friday, there was one settlement out of the office. Monday, December 31, 2007 - we have one refinance scheduled and possibly 2-3 more will be thrown on the schedule. It is getting a little tight out there boys and girls. I hope that for those who plan on staying in the title business, the next few months bring a better volume. As for me, I have formed a consulting business, a law firm, and am looking into learning one or two foreign languages. I've kept my resume brushed up, but I will still remain a loyal and hard-working (but realistic) employee. Happy New Year!

It's the Holiday Season ...thanks

It's been just over a week since my last posting. Settlement volume is still down, and I am spending most of my time clearing up files that have closed a year or so before I even started at my current company. It is amazing what prior abstractors, and title company employees had missed on files that have closed, and have since gone onto foreclosure. Oh well, people are only human, I guess.

I have many thoughts about the industry, but today I will just be giving thanks today: I do have a job where I don't have to patrol the streets of Baghdad with an M-16, praying that I don't get shot at or get blown up by a IED...and I am thankful for not having to spend Christmas under a tent in the mountains of Afghanistan. I am thankful for those that are fighting "over there," so that I can continue blogging over here. Thank you to those who have served and those who continue to serve. In many ways, you are a stronger person than I am...thanks, Happy Holidays and God Bless

Expanding ...and Contracting

Good morning. While not unique to the title business, the following is a process that I have seen repeat itself time and time again: Step One - Title company with a nice reputation is picking up business, the employees are very good workers and the volume of settlements is high; Step Two - Title company provides candy, chocolate, wine and/or champagne to the clients during the in-house settlements, and times are good & everyone is happy. Step Three - Title company management is very happy with everyone and gives raises and/or bonuses and looks toward expansion by opening another office, or leasing additional space at their location. Step Four - interest rates go up, Title company is unprepared and has to (a) get rid of the candy, etc. (or send out a company-wide message that it is only for clients), (b) start layoffs and/or cutting salary because they overspent during the mortgage "boom" and (c) let the employees know that they will be making difficult decisions over the coming weeks/months. Step five - Real life version of "Title Company Survivor", as the number of closings drop, employees get laid off, gossip and speculation increase, the employees still at the Title Company have to pick up the slack and worry about their own jobs. Or maybe that's just life and it's just me. The mortgage industry is experiencing it now, and it has happened before to the auto and aviation industries, to name a couple. Lesson to title company employees: Life is sometimes tough, you have to roll with it, and keep your resume updated at all times. Lesson to title company management: THINK before you spend. Generosity and expansion is a good thing, but in moderation; otherwise, you create unrealistic expectations of employee entitlement and shock when layoffs occur.

An interesting article on "Kickbacks"

For an interesting posting this month, please visit Title-Opoly and its 12/1 posting entitled,
"Illegal Kickbacks by Title Agents."

My thoughts on Realtors, Loan officers, and Title Companies and the messy business of "sharing the pie" will be upcoming this month...Thanks

Happy December

My Christmas 2007 Holiday Wish List

1. A smooth December month of settlements
2. A nice holiday "thank you" from escrow company management (by the way, I am sure that you could imagine the agony of their decision in closing the office the day after Thanksgiving...but holidays and taking time off is the subject of another blog).
   
3. Loan officers letting me know when their loans are closing at my company -- before the loan document packages arrive in our office
4. Clients, including realtors and loan officers, asking, "what can I do to help close the loan?" or "what can I do to help you clear title?" -- instead of asking "where are we on this?"
5. Borrowers who realize that a title company is NOT a 7-11 or McDonalds, and who think twice before showing up unannounced and without an appointment, wanting a deed drafted or wanting to pick up a proceeds check without bothering to check if the lender's proceeds have even been wired to us

Have I missed any? Have a great weekend...gotta go...I have to answer a voicemail from a loan officer who is working this weekend and needs changes to a HUD...

End of Month Closings ~ myClosingSPACE.com Title Insurance Blog

End of Month Closings ~ myClosingSPACE.com Title Insurance Blog

The End of the Month

Another post for today? Yes, I won't be posting tomorrow...

An open plea to Realtors/Loan Officers: For all the time and headaches it takes to settle at the end of the month, WHY DO YOU PERSIST ON WRITING SALES CONTRACTS FOR A SETTLEMENT DATE AT THE END OF THE MONTH!? If it simply boils down to the Realtor solely considering Line 901 of the HUD-1 Settlement Statement, a/k/a the prepaid interest, then the Realtor or Loan officer is very foolish.

Let me explain, their rationale seems logical - close at the end of the month, so that the prepaid interest you pay on your new mortgage would be minimal (e.g, settle on 11/30 and just pay interest on your new loan from 11/30-12/1, for on day of interest for about $50-$120 on Line 901 of the HUD-1).

Okay, fine. But here are the problems - and every month Realtors seems appalled and shocked that this happens (maybe these pitfalls weren't covered in their 60-hour training course):

1. Everyone wants to close at the end of the month, because some (not all) loan officers and Realtors were just cruising at the beginning of the month and it just dawned on them that they had to get paid for the month.

2. The settlement companies' conference rooms are booked solid from about noon-5pm, so the loan officers and Realtors get desperate (i.e., "this HAS to close today"), and there are delays in starting and finishing settlements during the end of the month - so rather than having a 30-45 minute refinance or an hour purchase, refi's can take an hour and purchases can take 2 1/2 hours.

3. The borrower really does not save that much, if any, by settling at the end of the month (see below).

Listen, I bought my home on October 2nd a few years ago - I paid the prepaid interest from 10/2 to 11/1 - about $1200 in interest. But you know what? THE SETTLEMENT WENT SMOOTHLY, THERE WERE NO DELAYS, I DIDN'T HAVE TO MAKE A MORTGAGE PAYMENT UNTIL 12/1, AND EVERYONE WAS HAPPY! I know I am barking at the moon here, but if one realtor reads this and takes the time to consider that by settling on the 4th of the month vs. the 30th or 31st of the month, that it may not be such a bad thing, then I will have done my job.

Day 2 - Up and moving

Okay, so here it is the end of the month. As way of background, I have been a real estate attorney for the last 5-10 years (I don't want to pinpoint my exact number years in the business, to help retain my anonymity...for now). I get up at 5-6am each weekday, leave my home at 7:30-7:45am, commute to my office and arrive around 8:45-9:00am (If I am lucky), work until 6:30-7:30pm, then arrive home around 7:30pm-8:30pm each night. I really don't mind the "long" hours, but the commute can be a pain. I would love to be working from home, but it's not really an option at this time. Even as I type this right now, I am listening to a "multiple streams of income" .mp3 to try to encourage me to pull away from the job. But I am digressing a little bit.

Anyway, here is my rant for the day. I spend 8-10 hours working and 2-3 hours commuting. Unfortunately, my clients, the loan officers, seem to love placing phone calls to us starting a 3-4pm in the afternoon, after coming into their office at 11am-noon. Where were they when I was in my office at 8:30am? They were asleep.

Yes, (1) I know they usually work solely on commission, (2) I know that they work long hours with not a large guarantee of a stable monthly income, (3) I know that we at the escrow company are lucky to even get business during this mortgage downturn.

But, if you are a hotshot young gentleman loan officer, or realtor that just loves (a) to roll in your office at noon, (b) call me at 3pm, 3:02pm, 3:12pm, and 3:15pm to try to force a loan closing at 5pm - at my office and to let me know that the loan documents will be delivered to our office at 4:45pm, (c) knowing that I am working on client's files: Refi file A, Purchase file B, Refi file C, Jacked Up foreclosure file D - (d) and then email me at 7pm to ask "where are we on File Z"?, (e) be chatting it up with clients at home at 9pm, (f) then hitting the bars or clubs until 2-3am, and (g) texting a hot girl (all while your own wife and kids are home asleep - more on that later...) at 5am, then (h) rolling into bed at 6am, then I have very little sympathy or tolerance for you and your files.

In the next day or so, probably tomorrow, the last day of the month, I will cover ... THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH. Other blogs will cover Common Courtesy & My Holiday Wish List 2007. Thanks again - let me know how I'm doing.

Good morning

Welcome to Title Boy's Thoughts! I appreciate you taking the time to read my first blog. I have many thoughts to share about my experience in the business. I promise that it will not be all ranting and raving, but I can tell you that there is a lot that I am sick about. Future posts will include: settling at the end of the month (WHY WHY WHY!? Because you want the buyer/borrower to save a little prepaid interest on the new loan?), the negative am loans and the foreclosure mess we are in (I am actually glad that mortgage companies are "imploding"), my current and former employees and co-workers, and so much more. Thanks again, and Happy Holidays from Title Boy!