Sarasota Title Company: Title Insurance & Closing Services
Sarasota Title Company: Title Insurance & Closing Services
Real estate closings are usually most stressful when people do not know what is happening, cannot get their questions answered, or discover a problem just before they are supposed to sign.
A well-managed closing should feel different. The title work should begin promptly, important issues should be identified early, closing figures should be carefully determined and calculated, and the parties should be informed so they understand what is needed to complete the transaction.
Gold Key Title, LC is an attorney-owned Sarasota title company providing title insurance, escrow and settlement services, and residential and commercial real estate closings throughout Sarasota and surrounding Gulf Coast communities.
Local Title and Closing Services for Sarasota Real Estate
Every real estate transaction has its own details. A downtown Sarasota condominium closing may involve association documents, assessments and require buyer approval. A single-family home transaction may involve a boundary survey, municipal liens and outstanding permit applications. Commercial and investment-property closings may require entity documents, landlord and tenant estoppels, lease assignment, rent prorations, security deposit assignments, commercial financing coordination and additional due diligence.
The best closing is not necessarily the one with the fanciest conference room. It is the one where the necessary work was handled correctly before everyone sits down to sign.
Gold Key Title assists buyers, sellers, property owners, real estate professionals and lenders with transactions involving:
- Single-family homes
- Condominiums and townhomes
- Vacant land
- Investment and rental properties
- Commercial real estate
- Cash purchases
- Financed purchases
- Refinances
- For Sale by Owner transactions
- Trusts, corporations and limited liability companies
We serve Sarasota and nearby communities including Siesta Key, Lido Key, St. Armands, Longboat Key, Palmer Ranch, Osprey, Nokomis and surrounding areas.
What a Sarasota Title Company Handles
A title and closing company does much more than schedule a signing.
Depending on the transaction, Gold Key Title may coordinate:
- Review of the purchase and sale contract
- Title searches and title examination
- Preparation and issuance of the title insurance commitment
- Mortgage, lien, tax and association payoff information
- Escrow deposits and closing funds
- Communication with buyers, sellers, agents and lenders
- Preparation or coordination of deeds and closing documents
- Preparation of settlement statements and closing figures
- Signing, witnessing and notarization of closing documents
- Receipt and disbursement of funds
- Recording of deeds, mortgages and other instruments
- Issuance of owner’s and lender’s title insurance policies
Our objective is to keep the transaction organized, identify issues before closing day and help the parties move toward an accurate and successful closing.
Title Searches and Title Examination
A title search examines public records affecting the property and its ownership history. It may disclose recorded mortgages, liens, judgments, easements, restrictions, probate matters, ownership interests and other matters that must be reviewed before closing.
Finding an issue is only the first step. The closing agent must determine what is required to address it. That may involve obtaining a payoff, release, affidavit, corrective deed, probate document, entity authorization or other supporting information.
An old mortgage, for example, may have been paid years earlier but never properly released in the public records. A judgment may belong to someone with a similar name. A prior deed may contain an error in the legal description or execution.
These are the situations where experience, careful review and responsive communication become especially valuable.
Owner’s and Lender’s Title Insurance
An owner’s title insurance policy protects the purchaser’s ownership interest against covered title defects, subject to the policy’s terms, exclusions and exceptions.
A lender’s title insurance policy protects the mortgage lender’s secured interest only. It does NOT insure the buyer’s ownership interest in the property AT ALL, thus, it does not in any way, shape, or form replace an owner’s policy merely because the buyer pays for it as part of the closing.
Title insurance generally involves a one-time premium paid at closing rather than a recurring annual premium. Florida’s Department of Financial Services explains that an owner’s policy protects the purchaser, while a lender’s policy protects the lender that made the loan.
Gold Key Title coordinates the title search and examination, works to satisfy the requirements stated in the title commitment and issues the applicable title insurance policies after closing.
Residential Real Estate Closings
Residential transactions can involve much more than the purchase price and mortgage.
A Sarasota residential closing may require coordination of:
- Condominium or homeowners’ association information
- Property-tax prorations
- Existing mortgage payoffs
- Municipal lien information
- Surveys and legal descriptions
- Insurance requirements
- Lender conditions
- Seller affidavits
- Entity, trust or estate documents
- Final closing figures
We work with the parties and their real estate and lending professionals to help keep the transaction moving and resolve questions before they become last-minute delays.
Commercial and Investment-Property Closings
Commercial real estate transactions often require additional coordination because the buyer, seller or property may be held through a corporation, limited liability company, partnership or trust.
The transaction may also involve leases, tenant deposits, assignments, surveys, financing documents, inspection periods, due-diligence requirements and entity-authority documents.
For transactions involving a potential Section 1031 exchange, Gold Key Title can coordinate the real estate closing with the client’s CPA, attorney and qualified intermediary. Gold Key Title handles the title, escrow, closing-document, disbursement and recording aspects of the real estate transaction while the client’s tax professionals and qualified intermediary address their respective responsibilities.
For Sale by Owner Closings
A For Sale by Owner transaction may not involve real estate agents, but it is still up to the parties to prepare and sign a legally sufficient contract that contains and reflects the complete understanding of the buyer and seller, title work, closing documents, escrow handling, settlement calculations, signing, disbursement and recording.
In fact, buyers and sellers typically need substantially more closing assistance from the title company because there are no agents available to assist the seller and the buyer with coordinating deadlines, inspections, deposits and all communications necessary throughout the process from contract to closing.
Gold Key Title can assist with the transaction from contract preparation or review through the final closing, disbursement, and recording.
Refinance Closings
A refinance does not involve a new buyer, but it still requires title examination, lender coordination, payoff information, loan-document signing, funding, disbursement and recording.
Providing a prior owner’s title insurance policy early in the process may also allow the title company to evaluate whether a reissue title policy premium rate is available to the customer resulting in a lower cost title premium.
Why Choose an Attorney-Owned Sarasota Title Company?
While it is true that most transactions proceed without a major legal complication, experience becomes even more important when one appears.
Gold Key Title, LC is attorney-owned and operated. Michael D. Wyckoff brings more than 30 years of Florida real estate and business-law experience to the title and closing process.
That experience provides a practical perspective when reviewing contracts, examining title, preparing closing documents and working through issues involving ownership, liens, trusts, estates, business entities and unusual transaction terms.
We believe clients deserve personal attention, understandable explanations and timely answers. Nobody should have to wonder whether an important document was received, whether an identified problem is being handled or what remains to be completed before closing.
Sarasota Office
Gold Key Title maintains a Sarasota office at:
1626 Ringling Boulevard, Suite 500
Sarasota, Florida 34236
The telephone number for both the Sarasota and Bradenton offices is:
941-795-5775
Call to discuss your transaction, request a closing-cost estimate or arrange a meeting at the Sarasota office.
Speak With Gold Key Title About Your Sarasota Closing
Whether you are purchasing, selling or refinancing a home, condominium, commercial property, investment property or vacant land, early communication with the title company can help identify questions before they become closing-day problems.
Contact Gold Key Title, LC at 941-795-5775 to discuss title insurance and real estate closing services in Sarasota.
This article provides general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice concerning any particular transaction. The contract, title commitment, title insurance policy and specific facts of each transaction control.
