As a loan officer or real estate professional you may have a client who has had a former bankruptcy history that was filed in Washington State.    Some title companies will not go the extra mile to assist you in obtaining any records from the Western Washington district court system (Seattle and Tacoma).

Legacy Escrow has online access to court records in this regard and would be happy to provide you the needed documentation to assist you in serving our mutual clients.

Over the past year or two loan officers from various corners of the USA have been calling on Legacy Escrow Service, Inc. and utilizing our services for providing subordinations as part of our complete escrow closing program.   The most recent lender, The Lending Company from Arizona contacted us due to our experience in subordinations for their closings in Washington State.

While competitors try to emulate our service and programs, Legacy Escrow Service, Inc stands alone in providing the very best in service that help to build and foster the long-term business relationships of our real estate professional customers.

We have received numerous phone calls and e-mail requests asking for a HUD-1 Settlement Statement signed by the buyers and sellers.

In Washington State, signatures on the Final HUD-1 Settlement Statement are not required and is not common practice. The IRS guideline states:

If you claim the credit on a 2009 (or later) return, you must attach a copy of your settlement statement. For most homebuyers, this will be a properly executed Form HUD-1, Settlement Statement (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) that includes:

• Names and signatures of all parties involved,
• Property address,
• Purchase price, and
• Date of purchase.

The Final HUD-1 Settlement Statement was mailed to the buyer and seller at closing. “Final HUD-1″ appears on the bottom left side of page 2 of the settlement statement, directly under the 1400 section.

See below for a screenshot: (click image to enlarge)

This video tutorial is about how to obtain a more complete picture of recorded documents against a home that you may be interested in. We do this by searching by parcel ID vs. searching only for a specific document. This way you will not alienate potential recorded documents that may be of interest to you and paints a better picture of the ownership history of a home.

Please see our post on lender subordinations. Bank of America subordination checklist has changed a bit, so it is updated today.

November Refi closing schedule:

Last signing day is Tuesday,November 24th, for fundings on Nov. 30th. Borrower’s sign no later than November 24th for rescission period. Thanksgiving day does not count for rescission period nor does Sunday.

Here are some recent “zingers.”

• Borrowers signed on the line next to the one provided.  (resulted in a re-sign)
• Provide proof that the borrowers are not married.
• Slight variance in borrower signature from others. (resulted in a re-sign)
• Borrower to sign all doc’s in presence of a Notary (even those docs not requiring a Notary acknowledgment)
• (Singe Borrower)  Please amend Quit Claim Deed vesting from “John Smith, an unmarried man, to John Smith, an unmarried man as his sole and separate property.”

Unfortunately, there are many more.  The result of these sometimes nutty funding conditions are that they can in fact delay funding’s along with other ramifications.   When borrowers have to resign specific documents it requires having to track them down (sometimes borrowers are out of town or country) which can be difficult and highly inconvenient to all parties involved in a sale.

How to appeal your property taxes

In Snohomish County you must send in the petition to the Board of Equalization within 60 days of receiving your tax valuation change notice in the mail -OR- by July 1st, 2009, whichever occurs LATER.   Check the county you live in to verify if this is similar to your county guidelines (King and Pierce appear to have similar deadlines for filing).

Because Snohomish County has experienced declines in home values it is more important than ever to appeal your property tax valuations.   The county assessor states that the assessed value is supposedly a “true” reflection of market value.   This is a benchmark that is very difficult to achieve.   If you do nothing, you will be guaranteed that you will pay property taxes on a valuation that is probably innacurate.   For example, the market has deteriorated substantially since valuations were formulated for paying 2009 taxes (used early 2008 sales comparables for the 2009 tax valuations).

The County will always be playing catch up.  In a market where we have experienced lower housing values, it is important to be proactive.    Below, I have provided links to the forms to print out (.PDF documents) for Snohomish County, King County and Pierce County to appeal your property taxes.    If you need assistance in finding “like” property home sales, otherwise known in the industry as “comps” or comparable property, please contact your agent, a certified appraiser or contact us for assistance (we charge a small nominal fee for our time and so will your agent).

If you live in a County not listed, please search your county on Google or contact tim@legacyescrow.net for assistance.

Snohomish County

King County

Pierce County

Click the image below to view it on a larger scale.

Legacy Escrow continually adds value by providing subordination services as part of our complete escrow closing service.   This time saving task saves loan processors precious time, a real value in assisting loan officers in creating smooth transactions and closing on-time!

Subordination Checklist from various lenders:

This is a brief list of some of the more common lenders we work with.   To order a subordination please go to our sister company here.

• Amtrust – Subordination Checklist
• Bank of America (updated Nov. 13, 2009)
• Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU)
• Chase Subordination Checklist
• First Franklin (5/2010)
• Home Loan Service, Inc. (5/2010)
• National City
• First Horizon Subordination Checklist (updated 3.16.2010)
• GMAC-Homecomings Subordination Checklist
• Key Bank Subordination Checklist
• US Bank Subordination Checklist
• Washington Mutual
• Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU)
• Wells Fargo Subordination Checklist
• 1st Security Bank of Washington Subordination Checklist

Local Utility Subordinations:

PUD (local Snohomish County Public Utilities District) Subordination Checklist:  Click HERE.