Colony Title Group, Ltd.

It’s a New Year, and the real estate settlement experts at Colony Title are moving to a new piece of real estate. As of March 1, 2013, we will be located at 5950 Symphony Woods Road, Suite 418, in Columbia, Maryland – and we’re excited about showing off our new space to past and present clients alike. We expect the New Year will see some new changes for you, too. Here’s what’s on our radar:

The Real Estate Market: Torn between pent up demand and a dire need for more houses displaying a “for sale” sign in the front yard, the real estate market stands divided right now. Realtors claim that while serious potential buyers are out there, the inventory is low, making the selection quite limited. That being said, rates are currently still low, unemployment rates are improving, and lenders are doing all they can to thwart foreclosures. While prices are down and rates are low, parents that are able to help their children who are just starting their careers to buy their first home should: it’s a great time to invest.

Mortgage Rates: They haven’t changed all that much in spite of the change in the calendar year. The thirty year fixed rate is around 3.5%, with fifteen-year mortgages in the low 3% to high 2% range. It’s time to consider refinancing if your rate is over 4.5%.

Come see us this spring as we transition into our new space, and let us help you transition into yours: if you’re buying or selling a home in Maryland, DC, or Virginia, we can provide title insurance and title search services to protect you against any defects related to your property’s title.

If you have questions, the Maryland real estate insurance experts at Colony Title Associates can be reached by calling 410-884-1160 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Though we’re all culprits when it comes to shopping and purchasing items at national chains and big box shops, sometimes goods and services are better sourced locally. Farm fresh veggies from the field miles from your house are likely to taste better than those shipped in from the other side of the country. Buying furniture, clothes, or other wares from a local business boosts town economies, circulating money within the community and fostering employment. At Colony Title, we’ve seen that the trend to live local shouldn’t be cut short when it comes to real estate advice.

In the last couple of months, we’ve had an influx of clients come to us after seeking out the best rate for refinancing from out-of-state lenders sourced online. Though they made bold claims to offer the lowest possible rate for mortgages, their lack of knowledge about the location of the properties meant that their appraisals were often inaccurate. In one case, a property that was acquired for $600,000 just five years prior would not support an appraisal of $250,000. Another house, bought for $950,000 and then renovated and upgraded, wouldn’t support a new loan of $800,000. Why were there such discrepancies in the quotes from these lenders?

What the difference in appraisal comes down to is the lenders’ deficit of information about the local market and their general hesitancy to work through issues if there was a glaring disparity between their pricing assessment and the actual value of a property. When the borrowers converted to a local lender like the ones that Colony Title works with, they were able to get an accurate appraisal, approve their loans and close on the deal. The takeaway is this: claimed rates supposedly guaranteed by lenders aren’t the only means of choosing a lender. The associates at Colony Title are happy to work with you to help you find the lowest rate you can possibly obtain, making the borrowing process a simplified one.

Currently, rates in the area for conventional fixed mortgages are under 4.0%, while ARMs can be anywhere as low as 3% – sometimes even better. Jumbo loans are higher, but still available at attractive rates. Realtors in the Maryland area have agreed that we are at an all-time-low from a pricing standpoint – now is the time to invest!

At Colony Title, we can help you to find the best rates in real estate – we want to be your title company and real estate law firm.

If you have questions, the Maryland real estate insurance experts at Colony Title Associates can be reached by calling 410-884-1160 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

With the difficult housing market, properly staging a home has become an essential ingredient in the ultimate outcome of your selling success. Though here at Colony Title, we are involved in the closing process for those looking to buy in conducting title searches and providing title insurance, we know a thing or two about what makes a property seem delectable to those on the house hunt.

Here are a few of our favorite tips for making your home appetizing for a wide variety of potential homebuyers:

• Paint outdated tile: That’s right – we know you don’t want to give your bathroom a head-to-toe makeover right before you’re about to exit the building. So use a high-adhesion primer and a little ceramic epoxy and update your space on a dime.

• Stain kitchen cabinets: By the same order of logic, we know a kitchen renovation probably isn’t on the horizon right before you make a move, either. Instead of a total makeover, consider staining your cabinets and adding some new hardware for fresh look.

• New kitchen appliances: If you’re going to splurge somewhere, this is the place to do it. We can’t tell you how often we here “But the appliances aren’t stainless” from homebuyers during an open house. Old appliances have a way of instantly outdating a space, and you’ll see the return on your investment quickly.

• Staging: Pretend your home is about to be photographed for an interior design magazine. Put away the clutter. Keep the accessorizing simple and tasteful. Highlight functional areas and amazing features. Get your rooms dressed up for a night out on the town, not a casual afternoon lounging at home.

Really, the possibilities are endless, and these are just a handful of the steps we can suggest to make your home sell faster. Remember to be creative with your budget but to keep your home looking clean – both literally and in the personal accents you add throughout your space. When you’re ready to move on to a new place, contact the experts at Colony Title to help you in closing the deal on a new home with our title search services.

If you have questions, the Maryland real estate insurance experts at Colony Title Associates can be reached by calling 410 884-1160 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Sources:

30 Can’t-Miss Home Staging Tips

According to a new real estate study, the old trope holds true: buying a home is often more affordable than renting one.

Conducted by the real estate information online resource, Zillow, the study examined 200 metropolitan areas and 7,500 cities to determine how long it would take before a homeowner would begin to see the financial payoff that comes with purchasing a home. In about three of every four metro areas tracked, the break-even point was ushered in in as little as three years – or less.

Factors considered in reaching this conclusion were housing and renting costs – including down payments, property taxes, closing costs, maintenance fees, tax deductions, rental payments, and mortgage expenses.

Of course, there are always exceptions, and it’s no doubt that some pricier real estate markets – like San Jose, California – have a significantly longer timeframe when it comes to reaping the financial benefits of homeownership. While about 7% of the 200 metropolitan areas followed took over five years to reach the break-even mark – all of which, again, were in California – many areas took only 1.6 years. These real estate hot spots include Memphis, Tennesse; Salisbury, Maryland; Red Bluff, California; Fernley, Nevada; and Tampa, Florida.

The chief economist at Zillow, Stan Humphries, insists that the unprecedented affordability of housing throughout most of the country ensures that buying a home is an increasingly wise decision. Contributing further to the incentive to hop on the home buying bandwagon is the reality that rents have risen more than 5% over the past year, according to Humphries.

If you’re prepared to take advantage of the nearly nationwide real estate deals, the Associates at Colony Title are here to help you further make the most of your money, with our one-time cost insurance and affordable title search services. Just like buying rather than renting, making the investment in title insurance now will save you money in the long run by protecting you against unsettled claims on your property’s title.

If you have questions, the Maryland real estate insurance experts at Colony Title Associates can be reached by calling 410 884-1160 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Sources:

Many Homeowners break even shortly after buying, new analysis reveals

Twelve years ago in 2000, the real estate industry took its first stride towards going green with paperless transactions.  It was in Broward County Florida that the original computerized home buying process took place, cutting the process of recording the purchase and financing of a home down to a whopping five minutes.  At the time, confirmation documents with the pertinent information was forwarded to the settlement agent by email immediately, and images of the recorded documents were swiftly made accessible on the county’s website.

Since, then, however, many real estate companies around the States have been lagging when it comes to catching the train to paperless proceedings.  In fact, in many parts of Maryland and Washington DC, the real estate world has failed to upgrade from horse-drawn cars to steam locomotives: they still use paper, pen, and notary stamps.

The major issue with this old-fashioned method of record keeping is time: it requires making several trips to courthouses or recorders of deeds, which in turn calls for payment of fees and the presentation of original documents for recording.  Manually processing, imaging, and returning these documents can take anywhere from two to eight weeks, depending upon the jurisdiction.

But why hop aboard the paperless trend?  It eliminates the need for a middleman to drive sale contracts around town, and strikes the necessity for buyers and sellers to meet together in one place at one time.  Too, it will rid of illegibly re-faxed contracts and messy documents with cross-outs and different handwriting.  Going electronic also means, of course, that purchases and sales documents all have the capacity to be stored and accessed in digital form at any given point in the near or distant future.  Finally, it will provide homebuyers with the luxury to review documents from home on their own time, and to conveniently forward the information to attorneys for evaluation.

Digital signature programs like Authentisign, which is approved by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and complies with the Federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN), have streamlined the process of electronic documentation.  Essentially, what E-SIGN did was to ensure that contracts couldn’t be denied validity just because they were in a digital format.  This in turn revolutionized the secure authentication of real estate contracts.

Whether or not the real estate company you’re working with in your endeavors to find a new home have gone paperless or not, it’s important to remember that Title Insurance, just like electronic forms, will ultimately make your home buying process that much simpler.  With a one-time payment fee, title insurance will protect you and your home against any potential title defects, liens, or other issues, freeing you from the prospect of legal issues.  It’s important to select a company like Colony Title that will perform thorough checks of public records to ensure your property is actually available for sale before you sign those documents, whether electronically or with pen and paper.

If you have questions, the Maryland real estate insurance experts at Colony Title Associates can be reached by calling 410 884-1160 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Sources:

Real estate in the digital age: The time has come

Purchasing your first home comes with a wellspring of emotions: anticipation, excitement, anxiety – and the list goes on. It’s a bigger commitment than buying a car or signing a lease, and certainly doesn’t come with a thirty-day return policy like those shoes you bought at the mall last week.

At Colony Title, we make it our business to make your home buying process less stressful by searching and insuring the title for your new residence, but we’d like to offer a bit of advice about launching your hunt for the perfect place. Follow these guidelines and enter more confidently into the plethora of potential pads waiting to be made into your home.

Enter the World of Online Shopping: With the convenience of one-click purchasing online, it’s easy to forgo shopping malls and individual retailers for the ease of the internet. Shopping for a home is not any different: be sure to peruse those listings, take those virtual tours, and examine those detailed photographs. This is a quick way for potential home buyers to identify what it is they want most in a property in addition to what neighborhoods are suitable to their lifestyle, wants, and needs. Before you even consult with your realtor, you’ll know what you’re looking for, and be able to communicate those desires with her so that she can effectively help you find your dream house.

Be a Visionary: Many first-time home buyers are quickly put off by personal finishes lingering in the space from the current owner. Don’t get tripped up over someone else’s taste. That heinous avocado green bathroom? It can be painted in a day. The classic kitchen cabinets that seem slightly outdated? Pop off the old hardware and replace it with something more modern. The overstuffed sofa that’s shoved against a wall in the large living room? Imagine your couch replacing it, and scooted forward in the room to create a cozy seating arrangement. Don’t be distracted by the interchangeable details: examine the bones of the house and envision your own touches making it a home.

Go with your Gut: When searching for properties, don’t let indecision get the best of you. Many first-time home buyers tour a house, can envision themselves there, and then hold off just in case there’s something better our there. While attempting to track down that hypothetical alternative place, the one that actually suits you is just sitting around and waiting to be bought up by someone else who knows how to act fast when the moment is right. Be bold. Take the plunge.

Get Title Insurance: In the litany of paperwork you’ll sign when closing on a home, don’t toss title insurance to the wayside. In many cases, a title search reveals a past problem with the title that you’re likely to inherit unwittingly without professional guidance. Maybe a previous owner failed to fully pay his taxes, or didn’t compensate a contractor in full after having construction completed on his land. The title professionals at Colony Title will be sure to resolve any of these issues for you before you close, guaranteeing that you don’t have to deal with any headaches as you’re settling in your new home. Title Insurance is a one-time purchase that insures you against most unforeseen title defects for as long as you own the property. It’s a small investment that could save you thousands in the long run, so don’t opt out of a Title Policy. To meet with an associate from Colony Title and start the title search process, please click here to visit our website and find one of our offices near you.

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

As anyone knows, home buying can be expensive. First and foremost, there is the cost of the house. But then there are all of the closing costs, as well, including: Title Search, Attorney Fees, Recording Fees, Lender’s Title Insurance, Home Inspection, Home Appraisal, Home Warranties, and much more! So it is no wonder that many home buyers are hesitant to shell out any more money for optional coverages, such as Owner’s Title Insurance.

But according to REALTORs everywhere, Owner’s Title Insurance is a must!

Owner’s Title Insurance is one of the least understood, yet incredibly necessary insurance policies around. If a previous owner perpetrated a fraud, committed a forgery or the clerk of the land records failed to record or recorded incorrectly, the purchaser is unprotected without Owner’s Title Insurance.

The most common causes of title encumbrance include:

• False impersonation of the true owner of the property
• Forged deed, releases or wills
• Undisclosed or missing heirs
• Instruments executed under an invalid or expired power of attorney
• Mistakes in recording legal documents
• Liens for unpaid estate, inheritance, income or gift taxes
• Fraud

With the Owner’s Title Insurance, the title insurance company incurs the expense of determining the validity of a claim and defending against the claim. If there is a title defect, the title insurance company pays the claim so that the purchaser retains ownership without loss, or compensates the owner for any and all losses incurred as a result.

We at Colony Title want to be your Title Company and real estate law firm. For additional information, please contact Tee Tillman at 410.884.1160 ext. 3007 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Maintaining good credit is often one important aspect of people’s finances that they completely neglect until it is too late, like when they want to apply for a home mortgage. Did you know that most lenders require a minimum credit score of 680? Do you know what your credit score is?

Disturbing Facts about Credit Scores

• 79% of all credit reports have errors
• 25% of all credit reports have errors large enough to keep you from obtaining credit

Tips for Maintaining Good Credit

1. Occasionally obtain a copy of your credit report and go through it line by line to make sure everything is accurate. If you notice an error in your credit report, notify the credit-reporting agency as soon as possible.
2. Keep your credit card balance at less than 30% of your credit limit.
3. Be sure to pay your bills on time. Even just a few late payments can really damage your credit score.
4. Avoid going to a collection agency at all costs. If you are contacted by the collection agency, you have 30 days to resolve the problem before it appears on your credit report. A collection account can lower your credit score significantly!

Have any more questions? Contact the Real Estate experts at Colony Title!

We at Colony Title want to be your Title Company and real estate law firm. For additional information, please contact Tee Tillman at 410.884.1160 ext. 3007 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Getting Title Insurance is a requisite for purchasing your first home. Though it’s a requirement, there are specialized terms that could be esoteric to many interested in real estate purchases. Regardless, it’s important to know some of these terms before you purchase any title insurance.

Title Insurance Terminology

•  Title Insurance: A loss-prevention insurance policy designed to protect you against legal defects in the title that happened prior to purchase.
• Owner’s Policy: This insurance policy covers  the homeowner.
  
• Lender’s Policy ( Mortgage Insurance): This insurance policy cover’s the mortgage lender.
  
• ALTA:  When it comes to purchasing title insurance, you will hear this term quite often. ALTA, American Land Title Association, is the leading trade association of title insurers. Throughout the U.S, ALTA policies are widely utilized and preferred by credible lenders.  Be aware of ALTA Residential and ALTA Homeowner’s policies before digging into residential property transactions.
  
• Escrow: This term refers to the funds that you provided as earnest money when you made the initial offer on the property. Your escrow holder, normally a title insurance company like Colony Title Group, places these funds into a special account. Once all obligations related to your property are met, these funds will get released. Typically, this step happens during a property closing.
• Titles Search:  Title agencies, like Colony Title Group, perform a thorough check of public records to make sure that the property is legally available for sale.
  
• Title Report: A report that contains the results of the title search.
• Abstract of Title: A document that shows the complete ownership history of a piece of property. This type of document normally has a listing of all past property owners, mortgages and liens.
• Encumberances: Legal interest in the land which may or may not affects its value. Normally, encumberances take the form of zoning ordinances, claims or unpaid taxes.
  
• Lien: A financial claim to the property. Essentially, this takes the form of mortgages, mechanic or contractor liens. It’s imperative to have liens paid off before a mortgage lender will even allow the property sale to take place.
  

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

Colony Title specializes in real estate title insurance, real estate settlement services, and real estate closings in Baltimore, Columbia, Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia. Our staff consists of licensed Title Insurance Agents, Real Estate Agents, Settlement Processors, & Attorneys to handle all of your real estate needs.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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Title Insurance Terms to Know

Title insurance is like a game of chess, you have to make the right move in order to get checkmate.

To a great extent, securing property title insurance is an exercising a simple move in a chess game. Just as if you move your knight into the area of your opponent, title insurance companies refuse to insure properties with a history of legal uncertainties. Accordingly, the title examiner combs the records with an expert eye and identifies any potential problems, such as an unpaid tax assessment or a neighbor’s easement for right-of-way according to property right of way laws. The examiner then issues a preliminary report called a commitment, which lists these defects and informs you of any problems that the seller must correct prior to closing. If the company isn’t willing to cover a particular matter and the seller can’t or won’t correct it, you have a choice whether to live with the problem or bow out of the deal. If a title insurer refuses to write the policy at all, you can bet that the seller can’t give you good title.

That’s why it’s important to know not only what your title insurance will cover, but also what it won’t: what scenarios might arise in the future that would challenge your ownership of the property title deed. This chapter offers an introduction to titles, title insurance and various encumbrances that could endanger your ability to enjoy your home.

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.