Are You Alone in Your Land Sale? What Happens When Your Title Commitment Comes Back Unfavorable?

Beth:

Hi, I’m Beth with TB Properties Buys Land. Today we’re going to talk about what happens if your Title Commitment comes back and is less than favorable.

Let’s just say that you are ready to sell your land and you have signed a purchase agreement, it has been sent off to the title company and the preliminary title commitment has come back and something unfavorable has been found against you. What can you do? If you are working with a land investor, such as TB Properties Buys Land, you are essentially doing this transaction as a for sale by owner and you might feel alone and scared. You might be thinking, “what do I do? I don’t understand this title commitment at all!” The reason for this topic is that we’re actually going through this right now with a land seller. I had a conversation this morning with a land seller in which we have already signed a purchase agreement for $50,000. He and his sister are expecting $50k when we close on the property next month in January, but the Title Commitment came back saying they owed something like $3,800, and they won’t even proceed with the transaction until he’s paid off that $3,800.

When the Title Commitment came back, he hadn’t even noticed that, which is not surprising. I mean, this is a big, long title commitment and it’s kind of scary looking, but I wanted you to know that when you’re working with TB Properties Buys Land, you’re not alone in the transaction. We noticed the judgement against him and actually contacted him this morning and I was able to ask him, “Hey, what’s going on with this? Do you know anything about a judgement against you and owing back taxes to the county in this amount?” He said, “Not at all. Everything’s been paid up. We pay our property taxes every year.” After checking with him first, we were able to dig into that judgment through a couple online resources, and we were able to determine that the judgement was most likely not against him, but probably against somebody else or associated with another property and not his. We immediately responded to the title company and asked, “Listen, I need you to provide the documentation on this judgment, all the documentation so we can take a look at it for ourselves, and second, are you sure this is for this particular property and for this particular land seller?”

After some looking, the title company was actually able to come back to us in less than an hour later and say, “Hey, we have stricken this off of the title commitment as there is no judgement against the seller.” I wanted you to know that when you’re a land seller and you’re working with us, we are paying in cash. We close quickly. We close through a title company for safety. But even title companies can make mistakes. Our goal is for you to be happy when you make the decision to sell your property to us. We want you to feel like you’re walking away with a fair deal and feel comfortable and confident in your decision. That’s why our purchase agreement is just one page. It’s very simple and once it is signed, it goes off the title company. When that title commitment comes back, we want to make sure that if you have any questions, you can talk to us. You’re always able to reach out to a real estate attorney or the title company directly and ask those questions as well, but you’re not alone.

In this transaction, we were able to identify the issue and approach the land seller and clear up the judgement for them, and now we’re able to proceed with the transaction and they don’t have to pay any money out of pocket. They’re able to get that full $50,000, which is exciting for them and not feel pressured to pay a judgement that wasn’t even against them. That kind of money can be a big game changer. In any case, if you have questions about title commitments or working with us as an investor, purchasing your land for cash, please feel free to reach out to us. We look forward to working with you. Thanks again.

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