Closing fees are a prickly part of any real estate deal. This is where everybody involved in the sale and transfer – lenders, lawyers, government agencies, and the escrow company – add their numbers to the bottom line. Perhaps the worst thing about closing fees is that they often seem to come as a surprise. [...]

This is the second article (see the first one here) in our series on the specific terms and phrases you can encounter during a real estate transaction. The language of escrow and the real estate transaction doesn’t need to be a stumbling block; once you know the terms, these words become what they are meant [...]

Real estate transactions, and the escrow processes that make them happen, sometimes have a level of industry jargon that can be confusing or intimidating to buyers and sellers who aren’t familiar with the meaning behind the words.
This is the first in a series of definitional posts designed to better inform buyers and sellers about the [...]

The typical real estate escrow requires the buyer to sign 70 – 120 pages of documents, several of which require notarization.  The seller also will have to notarize, at the minimum, the grant deed.  Notarization, or the act of an uninvolved witness (the Notary) verifying that the signor (the buyer or seller) is indeed who [...]

Demystifying the escrow process for buyers is part of our goal here at CMG Escrow. One of the ways we accomplish this is by providing buyer’s a detailed opening package. This package contains a particular form called a Vesting Form that is integral to the escrow process and to the buyer’s future interest in [...]

The term REO stands for Real Estate Owned properties.  These are properties that are owned by a bank or lender and are for sale to the public. These properties were reverted back to the bank after the homeowner was foreclosed upon.  If the home fails to sell at auction, the bank will put up the [...]

Within 48 hours of receiving a contract, CMG Escrow mails out an opening package to both the buyer and seller. These packages contain “homework”, i.e. paperwork that escrow needs back promptly in order to move forward and ensure that a transaction closes on schedule. It is integral to all deals that the buyers and sellers [...]

According to Merriam-Webster, escrow is defined as: a deed, a bond, money, or a piece of property held in trust by a third party to be turned over to the grantee only upon fulfillment of a condition.
Whether it is the buying and selling of a home, or the transfer of a business, the amount of [...]