Great comparative information for consumers to look at within the communities they are looking to purchase or sell.
California took another step to provide choice for buyers of foreclosed homes using title and escrow services.
Gov. Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law mandating that buyers of foreclosed homes be allowed to choose which title and escrow companies they hire.
Authored by Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, D-Livingston, the Buyer's Choice Act will take effect next week. Legislators approved it last month.
Galgiani introduced the bill in February in response to complaints that small title and escrow firms increasingly have been squeezed out of the market by national competitors. She worked with the Escrow Institute of California, a trade association, to draft a bill that she says will help homebuyers and local businesses.
As banks have become overloaded with foreclosures, many have chosen to close deals with major title and escrow companies because it's easier for them to work with one large firm instead of several small ones.
That's created what the Escrow Institute has called an "anti-competitive monopoly." It's also led to higher fees for buyers, according to real estate agents.
In a statement issued Monday, Galgiani said homebuyers often are better served by local firms, especially in today's market.
"Local escrow businesses can expedite the transfer of foreclosed properties to homeowners at lower cost," she said. "It also promotes competition for services and protects local jobs and our local economy."
The new law will require that buyers be told that they can choose their title and escrow companies. It also will prohibit banks from vetoing firms chosen by buyers unless they can show good cause.
Unless it's renewed, the legislation will expire in 2015.
Buyers already have a choice under federal law, but to date there's been little enforcement. The Buyer's Choice Act includes a provision that allows for fines of up to three times the cost of the escrow and title service if buyers aren't told they can pick their firms.
Title Insurance rates are regulated by most states and their Department of Insurance departments.
A title policy is a title policy, rates are rates and what differentiates a title company is the level of service, support and expertise to close those difficult transactions AND have the financial resources behind them to back up any claim that may be processed.
California's Department of Insurance promotes to the consumer the ability for them to comparison shop for rates.
Commissioner Poizner advises consumers that they have a choice when it comes to which title company to use. Prices can vary and consumers can compare rates on nearly 100 Title insurance companies in California via a Web site like http://www.clta.titlewizard.com/, which utilizes a software-generated system to deliver up-to-date Title rates. Sellers, home buyers, and homeowners looking to refinance their homes will be able to search by zip code and other factors to find the most competitive provider in their area.
Compare the rates AND the service levels offered by your Title Professional and Title Company you work with.
Register staff writer Erin Welch reports that the Yorba Linda Lemonade Grand Stand will help victims of the Freeway Complex fire.
From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 22), more than 85 volunteers will help sell lemonade at 15 stands throughout the city.
There will be stands at Bank of America on Main Street, Bank of America on Yorba Linda Boulevard, Citibank in the Albertsons shopping center on Yorba Linda Boulevard, Vons in East Lake Village Shopping Center, HomeGoods on Yorba Linda Boulevard, the U.S. Post Office, Stater Bros. on Yorba Linda Boulevard and major cross streets in Yorba Linda and East Lake.
The lemonade grand stand was started to help fund childhood cancer research, but with the recent loss of so many homes, organizers wanted to do more in the community, according to high school senior and organizer Keiko Hoen.
The goal is to raise more than $5,000. Donations can be made at /www.alexslemonade.org/stands/5319, by calling 714-809-0270 or via e-mail at Keiko@TheHoens.com.
Yorba Linda, California -- The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum will be closed to the public for one day on Tuesday, September 16 to accommodate meetings of the United States-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, a high-level government-to-government forum created 25 years ago to resolve trade issues between the two countries.
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