This summer, I wanted to talk about 2 people at ITC that are very important to not only ITC’s success, but our closer’s as well as our client’s success. Shelli Schiller and David Large are our underwriters and, while many of you may know them or have talked with them, you may not be aware of all that they do. They don’t just review documents like surveys, LLC Operating Agreements, deeds, easements, divorce decrees, judgments (I could go on but I won’t), they also solve problems and answer questions from closers and clients and sometimes me. It’s the “problem solving” part I want to really talk about.
David and Shelli maintain very busy schedules; observing their office for even 2-3 hours reveals the impressive workload of emails, phone calls, and personal visits they manage, making one decision after another. Each one of these decisions can have a huge impact on the lives of the agents, buyers, and sellers in a transaction, which by the way, is not lost on them. As a result, they try to make the best decision not only from an insurance/risk perspective, but also with an eye towards what makes sense in the context of a particular deal. The ultimate goal of course, is to find a way to close a deal, not the other way around.
Something that I discuss with them often is the importance of identifying the issue in a particular scenario. In other words, when presented with a set of facts surrounding a dispute over a closing or title problem, what is the question that needs to be answered? Keep in mind, the question that is asked is not always the question that needs answering. This is especially true when the parties are at odds with one another because the problem can become personal, which diverts focus away from the issue making the problem more difficult to solve.
Recently, we closed a deal where, prior to closing, the lender required both their borrower and the borrower’s spouse to take title on the deed from the seller. Everyone went into a panic because the borrowers/spouse was the only one who signed the contract as buyer. The agents’ and lender’s knee jerk reaction was to have the contract amended to add the other spouse to the contract. The problem was, the other spouse did not want to sign the contract and refused to do so. Then, the finger pointing began and the questions came. Well, not really questions, but more like accusations. “That lender is being ridiculous. Can’t you guys (meaning ITC) get them to make an exception here?” “Why didn’t the buyer’s agent have both spouses sign the contract? Everybody knows they should, especially if the buyer is getting a loan?” “Well, the seller is not agreeing to any amendment anyway and if the buyer doesn’t close, that’s fine”. None of these questions or statements really matter in terms of solving the problem.
First, asking the lender to change their guidelines is a dead-end street. Second, it doesn’t matter at this point why the other spouse did not sign the contract. The fact is he didn’t, and isn’t going to, and the seller being ambivalent about the situation doesn’t move anything forward. So, what is the actual issue/question here? The issue is whether the spouse, who is not on the sales contract, can be added to the deed from the seller pursuant to the lender’s requirement without a contract amendment. The answer is yes. Line 83 of the Closing and Possession section provides that “Deed as Directed by Buyer.” That means that the buyer can direct not only how they take title, but also who takes title. n our scenario above, the buyer could (and did) instruct us to put her husband on title with her, which satisfied the lender and the deal could close.
Shelli and David handle situations like the one I described every day. We are very grateful, and I believe you should be as well, that they are taking on these responsibilities for us.
Have a great rest of the summer and best of luck for the remainder of the year.