Escrow.

What is it?

Officially escrow is the neutral third party that has no interest in the transaction. Their purpose is "delivery of property by a grantor to a third party for delivery to the grantee upon the happening of a contingent event."

A Buyer and a Seller come together, along with their REALTORS®, and have agreed upon a purchase and sale of a house - with a price, terms, conditions and instructions. The escrow company, chosen by the Buyer as per RESPA Guidelines, will comply with the price, terms, conditions and instructions into their escrow instruction packet.

Do escrow companies make mistakes? Yes, but not often. Remember they only do what they are told. If the price, terms, conditions and/or instructions are somewhat vague or confusing, escrow will do their best at deciphering them - but only you know what the true meaning was. This packet will be delivered to all parties for verification. This is the time that you as a principal party in this transaction, along with your REALTOR®, should review the escrow instruction packet for correctness. If you find any errors notify your REALTOR® immediately.

Escrow can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your knowledge of what is going on. Work with your REALTOR® on the steps and timeline of the escrow process. Not knowing what is going on causes the most stress in any transaction. Having been involved in hundreds of escrow transactions, I sometimes forget that not everyone has been there. If you have any questions about escrow ask your REALTOR®, they should or better know.

The following is a list of just some of the people, vendors, professionals, and service providers that escrow must coordinate to complete the transaction:

Real estate agents:
Buyer's agent, Buyer's agent's assistant, Buyer's agent's manager, Buyer's agent's receptionist.
Seller's agent, Seller's agent's assistant, Seller's agent's manager, Seller's agent's receptionist.

Appraisal company: appraiser, appraiser's assistant, answering service runner.

Mortgage company: loan processor, loan processor's assistant, loan setup clerk, loan officer, loan officer's partner, receptionist, closer, underwriter, underwriting manager, closing supervisor, company officer to sign check, runner, subdivision approval specialist, secondary marketing, computer systems analyst, bookkeeper.

Mortgage company investor: underwriter, secondary marketing, closer.

Title company: escrow officer, escrow officer's assistant, escrow officer's receptionist, title examiner, title officer, word processing department, runner, customer service.

Collection agency: collection agency clerks, collection agency managers.

Existing mortgage company: mortgage company's customer service department.

Buyer: Buyer's landlord(s), Buyer's payroll clerk(s), Buyer's employer(s), human resources department, Buyer's employer(s)' payroll clerk, gift donors (family members).

Credit bureau: credit bureau reporting clerk, credit bureau data clerks.

Creditors bank: bank tellers, bank customer service department.

County health department

Roof contractor

Home inspector

Termite inspector

County recorder flood certification company

FHA staff

VA staff

FNMA or FHLMC staff

Probate judge

Estate trustee

Divorce attorney, divorce judge

Bankruptcy court

Builder: tract sales agent, escrow coordinator, superintendent, plumber, electrician, roofing contractor, drywall contractor, framer, tile setter, carpet layer, painter, sale manager.

Nevada Power

Las Vegas Valley Water District

Southwest Gas

Silver State Disposal

Sprint

This page last updated on 3/2009