Escrow Trenches: nutty funding conditions

Recall those episodes where Jerry Seinfeld grits his teeth and in one exasperated and frustrated breadth says, “Neeeewman!”

Similarly, so do title and escrow staff in dealing with lender funding conditions and other challenges that seemingly are for no other purpose but to drive us to the closet for our straight-jackets.

Unfortunately, some conditions cannot be easily met at the moment the request comes over the fax or e-mail.   Some require work that delays closings.  Or, in extreme cases a condition can completely shut down all other transactions you are working on for a couple of hours to work feverishly to meet conditions or do a workaround when parties to a transaction become completely uncooperative.

Here’s a couple funding conditions pulled from our short list posted on our blog:

  • “Prove that the borrowers are not married.” (hmmm)
  • “Slight variance in borrower’s signature from others of the same borrower, need borrower to re-execute documents.”  (can cause escrow people to find a new profession.  Who’s signature is the same after signing an FHA loan package that is 119 pages long and 1.375 inches thick?)
  • “Borrower signed on the line adjacent to the one provided where the name appears.   Please re-execute the document.”  (resulted in a re-sign after tracking down the borrower).

While these are humorous after the fact it also paints a picture of what goes on behind the scenes.   Another thing that creates grins for title and escrow staff:  When there is a “rush” on a request and that request involves the collaboration and cooperation with a government agency.