Intro to Escrow Services

As a Chicagoland title company, Cambridge Title Company offers full title and escrow services pertaining to the sales of residential and commercial real estate. But what are escrow services and why are they important to you as a home buyer?

To start, how do we define escrow?

A simple definition provided from RealEstateABC.com defines escrow as "a deposit of funds, a deed or other instrument by one party for the delivery to another party upon completion of a particular condition or event."

In the case of home buying, when an individual is attempting to purchase a home, they deposit funds into a neutral source. For our purposes, that source is Cambridge Title Company. Cambridge Title Company is then responsible for ensuring the security of the funds until all of the terms and conditions of the home buying/home selling transaction have been met.

After the terms and conditions have been met, the escrow officer sends the home buyer's paperwork to the loan officer. If everything is satisfactory, the loan officer may then extend permission to fund the home buyer's mortgage.

While this process can be very straightforward, escrow officers have a variety of duties that must be performed.

First American Title provides a thorough list of duties performed by the escrow holder. These duties include:

• The processing and coordination of the flow of documents and funds
• Ordering the title search which will indicate the record of ownership and status of the subject property
• Responding to lender’s requirements
• Responding to authorized requests from parties to the transaction
• Preparation of a final statement for each party (often referred to as the HUD-1 or Settlement Statement), that shows the costs and charges associated with the transaction
• Facilitation of the signing of loan documents
• Closing of the escrow, only when all conditions are met and funds are in place in accordance with instructions

The last bullet indicates an escrow closing. For our purposes, this is when a property deed is legally transferred from the home seller to the home buyer.

For additional questions relating to escrow services, contact Cambridge Title Company by phone at 224-330-1886 or by email at info@cambridgetitleco.com.