October 2024 Newsblog

YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, WE HAVE ANSWERS!
VIVA ESCROW Q & A SEGMENT
(Real questions sent to us – verbatim!)

Residential purchase in California. Is Buyer entitled to a final disbursement document for both Seller and Buyer, or just for Buyer’s side?

It doesn’t matter what type of transaction. We only provide the clients with their own final disbursement (aka closing statements) documents. It’s a matter of privacy and unless one party agrees and allows us to give their statement to the other party, we don’t do so.

If you are the Buyer, and ask for the Seller’s closing statement, what is to stop the Seller from asking for yours? If your lender requires you to pay off credit cards and other liens through escrow in order for you to qualify for the loan, those payments will show on your closing statement. You would not want the Seller to see that information.

By the way, we do not talk to or release ANY of our clients’ information to anyone without their authorization, and that includes family members, CPAs and particularly any random caller. 

That being said, for new loan underwriting purposes, most buyer’s lenders require escrow to provide a “Master” Closing Statement and/or a Seller Closing Disclosure, both of which include both Buyer and Seller’s closing costs. That becomes a quandary for escrow. We are supposed to protect the clients private information, but we also want to meet the loan conditions. To compromise, when we provide the documents, we alert the lender that: 

“Due to privacy issues, any Master Settlement Statement or Seller’s Closing Disclosure provided to you for the processing of the new loan contains Seller’s confidential, Non-Public Personal Information (NPPI) that you are not authorized to share with the Buyer, any real estate agent, or any other party who is not directly related to the procurement of the new loan.”

Then we hope they read it and understand their privacy obligations.

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~ Video of the Month ~ 

This IS NOT an Apple Ad but…. OMG, check out the new features for the iOS 18!!! (an 8:41 minute view) But you must have an iPhone 16 that has AI features…. Are we drooling yet?
Kenneth Ma, I am looking at you! 

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~ Quote of the Month ~

Some tech quotes (unknown sources). Pick your #1!

  1. Flip phones were so much more satisfying for ending annoying conversations
  1. Phones don’t auto correct when you type in all caps because they think you’re angry and they don’t want to get involved. 
  1. If I am ever on life support unplug me and plug me back in and see if that works. 
  1. Life is too short to properly eject USB devices. 
  1. Just once I want a username and password prompt to say CLOSE ENOUGH.  

(My #1 is #5. What is yours?)

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THINK ESCROW! YouTube

My YouTube Offering for the Month

Escrow Tip #8 for a rising purchase real estate market

Buyer Name Changes = Delays

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You Have Questions? We Have Answers!

Juliana Tu, CSEO, CEO, CBSS, CEI, SASIP
“Escrow is my FOREMOST language!”

Advance Disclosure:
The opinions expressed in this blog are solely the author’s. 
Your comments and viewpoints are always welcome.
Info @ VivaEscrow.com