How long can the title company keep my house sale proceeds?
January 4, 2011 7:01 AM Subscribe
How long can a title company take, after closing, to send me the funding?
We sold our house, and closed last Thursday, late in the afternoon. I realized the holiday might slow things down, but it's currently Tuesday, and I still haven't received the wire transfer of the proceeds from the sale. I also haven't received my copies of the signed versions of closing documents, which were supposed to be sent the day of closing.
It's probably just holiday snafus, but I'm getting a little nervous. My realtor swears that the money should have been there by now, the title company swears they sent the fax authorizing the transfer, but USAA says there hasn't been a wire...and of the three; I believe USAA.
What is the normal time frame for getting the proceeds from the sale, if the loan was fully funded at closing? Are there steps beyond calling the title company that I should be taking, or should I just go have a cup of tea and calm down?
We sold our house, and closed last Thursday, late in the afternoon. I realized the holiday might slow things down, but it's currently Tuesday, and I still haven't received the wire transfer of the proceeds from the sale. I also haven't received my copies of the signed versions of closing documents, which were supposed to be sent the day of closing.
It's probably just holiday snafus, but I'm getting a little nervous. My realtor swears that the money should have been there by now, the title company swears they sent the fax authorizing the transfer, but USAA says there hasn't been a wire...and of the three; I believe USAA.
What is the normal time frame for getting the proceeds from the sale, if the loan was fully funded at closing? Are there steps beyond calling the title company that I should be taking, or should I just go have a cup of tea and calm down?
When I bought my house, the sellers got the wire about two hours after the sale and the realtor apologized for the delay.
posted by electroboy at 7:39 AM on January 4, 2011
posted by electroboy at 7:39 AM on January 4, 2011
Assuming this wasn't a dry closing, you should have received the funds by now. I don't want to freak you out, so I won't get into speculating on what went wrong but I'd be on top of that title company now. Hopefully all that happened is that they screwed up the wire information meaning that USAA didn't receive it or wasn't able to credit it properly. But I'd call the title company today and ask what the holdup is. Request a copy of the fax they sent and for proof from their bank that the wire was authorized and sent. Holiday or not, this is completely unreasonable.
As an aside-you also should have received the HUD statement the day of, at least a faxed copy if you are long distance or something because that shows you the amount that is on its way to you. Was your realtor at the closing? Does he or she have an explanation? Because if you haven't received your funds, your realtor should not have gotten paid off the HUD either, the transactions generally take place at the same time on the day of closing. If that person isn't demanding answers from the title company, I'd wonder if her check hadn't already been received and cashed. In which case, she no longer has much incentive to pester the title company, so it's up to you to stay on top of this.
posted by supercapitalist at 7:55 AM on January 4, 2011
As an aside-you also should have received the HUD statement the day of, at least a faxed copy if you are long distance or something because that shows you the amount that is on its way to you. Was your realtor at the closing? Does he or she have an explanation? Because if you haven't received your funds, your realtor should not have gotten paid off the HUD either, the transactions generally take place at the same time on the day of closing. If that person isn't demanding answers from the title company, I'd wonder if her check hadn't already been received and cashed. In which case, she no longer has much incentive to pester the title company, so it's up to you to stay on top of this.
posted by supercapitalist at 7:55 AM on January 4, 2011
Response by poster: Supercapitalist, yeah, we got a HUD statement, so I know how much *should* be in the wire transfer.
The closing agent at the title company couldn't give me a tracer number for the wire transfer, which means either
A.) Her bank hasn't gotten it to her (her story), or
B.) She has not sent it
If interest rates were anything but negligible, I would consider the idea that they're holding on to funds as long as possible, to increase their interest income...but with interest rates @1%, it seems like it would hardly be worth it, given that I'm likely to cost them way more in resource time from bugging them, than they would gain by keeping the money for an extra couple of days.
I swear, the stress from buying/selling real estate never freaking ends.
posted by dejah420 at 8:06 AM on January 4, 2011
The closing agent at the title company couldn't give me a tracer number for the wire transfer, which means either
A.) Her bank hasn't gotten it to her (her story), or
B.) She has not sent it
If interest rates were anything but negligible, I would consider the idea that they're holding on to funds as long as possible, to increase their interest income...but with interest rates @1%, it seems like it would hardly be worth it, given that I'm likely to cost them way more in resource time from bugging them, than they would gain by keeping the money for an extra couple of days.
I swear, the stress from buying/selling real estate never freaking ends.
posted by dejah420 at 8:06 AM on January 4, 2011
You should have received the funds by now. Does your sales contract have something in it about funding timeframe? This is a potentially serious issue (but my guess is that somebody at the title company dropped the ball and is trying to hide their mistake).
posted by seventyfour at 9:14 AM on January 4, 2011
posted by seventyfour at 9:14 AM on January 4, 2011
You should definitely hound the title company until they make something happen. If you owe anything on this home then the payoff of that loan could be screwed up by this delay, causing additional interest or penalties.
posted by curlyelk at 9:23 AM on January 4, 2011
posted by curlyelk at 9:23 AM on January 4, 2011
Response by poster: Follow up:
I went down to the title company, and parked myself there until someone fetched me a wire transfer tracer number, and then called my bank to confirm it had been received and posted. Significantly more work, time, travel, and hassle on my part than should have been required.
posted by dejah420 at 6:59 PM on January 4, 2011
I went down to the title company, and parked myself there until someone fetched me a wire transfer tracer number, and then called my bank to confirm it had been received and posted. Significantly more work, time, travel, and hassle on my part than should have been required.
posted by dejah420 at 6:59 PM on January 4, 2011
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posted by jon1270 at 7:34 AM on January 4, 2011