Thursday, 31st of July 2008 at 03:00:48 PMYesterday it was announced that Arizona Title has closed their doors. The Arizona Republic wrote an article covering the it. Real Estate Bloggers wrote about it all day, and now I’m going to rant about it. I’ve never used Arizona Title and it may have only come up in a couple of offers where I was party off, but never materialized. Would I have seen this coming, maybe, but I wouldn’t necessarily picked Arizona Title over some of the others.
We’re in a recession (I know, no one wants to say it, but lets accept reality here). Weather it is from the housing bubble or the energy crisis or whatever, it’s here. I’m not even going to try to lay blame, because as you have seen from past rants, that it is just too many possible group of people. Instead I want to focus on the reality, the problems that you may face, and hopefully start to offer some solutions so we can move out of the recession.
Title companies are going to be closing (branches and entire operations), there just isn’t enough business/money to keep going as if we’re all doing 2005 business now. Okay, let’s continue, lending companies are going to close for the very same reasons. Yes real estate companies are going to close, agents are already leaving the industry becuase they have to provide for their families, and there isn’t enough in this section to support everyone. Okay, that’s the reality.
How could this affect you? Well, if you are in a transaction (or going to be) where a party of that transaction is now gone, it could cause considerable problems, loss of sleep and possibly a loss of the deal. Have a plan, pay attention to what is going on and keep things moving quickly.
Have a plan. Have back-up title companies, lenders and real estate agents in mind, talk to them if possible, feel comfortable with them and even consult with them on their oppinoins to have a realtionship. Nothing too serious, just hey, I may need you in the future and would like to feel comfortable calling you in a panic knowing that you will help me out type thing. Keep copies of everything, contracts, documents, MLS forms, what have you. Your agent can help you with this since they are suppose to have copies of everything.
Pay attention to what is going on. Look for warning signs that trouble is on the horizon. My favirote flag is when I can tell that someone else is stressed out, they appear to be distracted and short on everything. Not a good sign, at some point I ask, okay, obviously something is going on or bothering you, what is it. At that point I learn a lot and/or raise the flag quickly. Seeing boxes in the office space or people moving out is another sign of down-sizing. Check out if the office is pretty empty for the space. Note: You may not see a sign, those working with Arizona Title probably did not see it, and the employees may not have either.
Keep things moving quickly. This is a double edge sword, you can move too quickly and make mistakes, so you want to move just as fast as you can, but get what you need to done at the same time. In real estate, we have a saying, Time is of the essence. This means that getting the transaction done with out hast. I’ve been successful in closing most of my transactions ahead of schedule and only once had to ask for an extension (2 days). We were having lender issues (red flag), so I started putting a new lender in place in case of another failure and kept everyone in the loop as to what was happening when. Most often, unless something major is discovered during the transaction, you should be able to close early. Keep on it and ask for routine updates from your agent as to where you are in the transaction life-cycle and what’s holding up the next step.
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