For Sale By Owner?
Selling your own home or land is a process with many moving parts. In addition to finding the right buyer, negotiating the terms of the contract, and providing all the appropriate property disclosures, you must also choose the right title agency to assist you with your closing. At Northwest Title, we can help you navigate the process of selling your home. We are attorney-owned, and can refer you to our attorneys' law firm for any legal guidance and document preparation, and we also act as the liaison with realtors, lenders, mortgage brokers, and other parties to the transaction and keep you informed of the process each step of the way to get you to the closing table.
Who Chooses the Title Company?
In Central Ohio, the seller typically chooses the title agency. Northwest Title can work with you to help you effect a sale with a minimum amount of strain or hassle, and we have many offices to make your closing location convenient for you.
In Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Eastern Ohio, the buyer typically chooses the title agency. We can work with you to help you through the homebuying process and ensure a smooth closing process, and we can also refer you to Northwest Law for legal assistance in preparing your purchase offer or in representing you in the transaction.
How Do I Choose Northwest Title as the Title Company in My Transaction?
The choice of title company is something that can be negotiated as a term of your real estate contract by including it in a buyer's offer to purchase or a seller's counteroffer. The federal law called RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) prohibits sellers, realtors, or lenders from taking the choice of title insurer away from the buyer and still requiring the buyer to buy it. Typically that means that if the contract was silent about the title insurer, then the buyer has the right to choose. So in essence the buyer and seller can negotiate the title/settlement company in the contract, and decide how they would like to handle it and who is paying for the various closing costs (by local custom, or by other agreement).
In your purchase contract, you can add "This transaction shall close with Northwest Title Family of Companies, Inc., and the [buyer or seller] agrees to bear the cost of the buyer's title insurance policy, and shall divide the closing costs by local custom, unless otherwise specified in this contract."
Make Northwest Title your partner as you go through the home selling and home buying processes. Call us at 866-601-8449 to speak to one of our experts!