Talon Northwest Neighborhoods

Rene' Fabre: 100% social media satisfaction...100% compliant!

In the entire Puget Sound area, there are very few individuals in title insurance that "get" the nuances and value of social media for real estate professionals. Rene' Fabre has been compliantly helping real estate brokers and lenders truly understand social media's benefit since 2003.

You'll discover Rene's passion for social media throughout dozens of on-line conversations or by attending local events that focus on this media. Yet, it's not as easy as you might think for Rene' to share his deep knowledge on this subject with our fellow real estate pros. There are clear cut rules we must strictly abide by when it comes to providing items of value to potential originators (our clients) of title & escrow biz.

The competitive nature of the title insurance industry mixed with our state's strict enforcement of insurance regulations can bring out the "tattle-tale" in many of our competitors. 

Rene' follows all the state regs to a "T" as shown with a letter from our state's Insurance Commissioner absolving our company from yet another competitor's allegations. I guess we'll just continue to be flattered that we're being noticed by our peers!

 

Sherrie Reed joins Talon as Seattle's newest title insurance Account Manager

The Talon Group is excited to introduce our newest asset to Seattle area real estate professionals! Sherrie Reed will be joining our Seattle sales team on Monday, May 16th.

Many real estate veterans will remember Sherrie from when she supervised Property Information departments in King and Snohomish counties from 1991-2002. Since then, Sherrie dramatically increased her expertice in our industry. Before moving back to Seattle, she performed the duties as President of a family owned title agency providing services across seven southern states! 

Sherrie pactices what she preaches when it comes to the value of education and networking. She is certified to teach several Washington State clock hour approved courses including 1031 Exchange, Title Insurance, Escrow Processes, and Sales & Marketing. Business To Business networking is another avenue that Sherrie believes is essential to building strong ties in a competitve market such as Seattle.

We're confident Sherrie Reed's qualifications will prompt you to raise the bar for what to expect from a title & escrow representitive.

  

 

Title Insurance ROCKS!

At The Talon Group, we take your compliments seriously.  Watch Chief Title Officer Daniels as he reacts to a recent tweet sent by a another happy client from the Seattle area!  

 

 

You never know just how much positive impact your compliments may have on someone...

Real Estate's un-sung Hero: The Escrow Assistant

When buyers and sellers throw themselves into a real estate transaction, they're typically left with memories of dealing with the "main characters" when it's all said and done. The real estate broker(s) and loan officer naturally share top billing followed by the escrow closer or the notary that helps guide the customers through their final documents.

Behind the scenes, the Escrow Assistant plays a huge role in completing a successful real estate transaction. Here's just a sample of what an escrow assistant accomplishes at Talon:

Clear Title - Review title commitment and work with the owners of the property to identify any liens, judgements of record or any other obstacles that would prevent clear title being transferred to the buyer prior to closing. 

Order Payoffs - In the assistants pursuit of making their closer "look good", they request payoff information for all mortgages, lien-able utilities, Home Owner Association fees, judgements or liens, and any other payoff or lien release needed.

Work with lenders - Provide lender any preliminary information such as Closing Protection Letters, fee sheets, wiring instructions, or any other info lenders need for their process.

Schedule appointments - Set a convenient time and location for both buyer and seller to sign their final documents. In the case where a buyer is securing funds from a lender, the escrow assistant will coordinate the signings in conjunction with the arrival of loan docs.  

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate - Update and correspond with all parties the status of the file during the entire escrow process. 

Stunt double for Escrow Officer - Many (if not all) of Talon's escrow assistants possess the knowledge and experience to actually close various types of escrow transactions. With their desire of being in the action, you shouldn't be surprised seeing one of our talon-ted assistants sitting across from you at the signing table! 

Escrow Assistants may be buried down in the "credits" but the show just can't go on without their tireless efforts. We asked a number of our escrow closers what they thought were the most valued traits of an escrow assistant. Here's what they came up with...

Gwen in Bellevue "Patience, flexibility, and being organized."

Shandon in Puyallup "Attention to detail and knowing the value of a sense of urgency on all files!!!"

Michelle in Seattle "A good escrow assistant is like an air-traffic controller...they guide the transaction through "traffic" and "rough conditions" to a successful closing while never letting the stress show."

...about the escrow assistants they have the pleasure to work with:

Stacy in our University Place branch "My assistant and I are so in tune that she (Melissa) has the ability to complete my sentences"

Sandy with Talon's International Team "Even when Bowic is overloaded...He still finds time to go the extra mile."

Renee in Bellevue "Assistant? What assistant? She's (Sara) our boss giving us all the work!

Michael in Seattle "Simone has grace under pressure and the ability to smile while juggling what seems like a million tasks."

Dave in Lynnwood says "If the closers were Astronauts then the conversation from space would go something like this:

Closer: "Houston we have a problem"

Escrow Assistant: "I (Kimberly) have already fixed that...sit down and enjoy the view!"

Photo courtesy of ewen and donabel

 

TITLE HEROES

A special thanks to all title and escrow heroes everywhere. TITLE HEROES is dedicated to those special people in the industry who faithfully serve their communities. When times are good you're more than busy and when markets are down and times are challenging, you're even busier.

Thanks for being there and taking care of the client... Thanks for your expertise and dedication to a job done right. Thanks for doing everything possible and caring enough to get the deal done and closed as it should.

Be safe out there these wintery days…  Have a great Thanksgiving and be warm with family, friends, and loved ones.

From all of us at The Talon Group, Happy Holidays…

 

For more videos from The Talon Group, visit our YouTube Channel:
TalonNW

Talon Title Gives New Meaning to Uncovering Title (circa 2008)

 

 Ever wonder what goes on in a title unit?  

I didn't think so but we'll tell you anyway!

Every once in awhile we need to blow off a little steam just like the rest of the world.  That's why for Halloween our Chief Title Officer, Tim Daniels, let the title unit dress him up as a "mountain of paperwork".

 

   

 

Have a happy and safe Halloween from your friends at The Talon Group!

 

Watch out for some hidden dangers of renting

I was having an interesting conversation with Janell Wilson, account manager for our Talon Group Kent branch, earlier this week about a few hidden dangers of renting nowadays. 

Lets face it, there are more than a few homeowners out there that didn't plan on becoming landlords.  For those that have purchased a home in the last 3 years or so, there isn't enough equity to sell a home for any type of gain in the current real estate market.  Depending on your area, values have dropped 10%-20% off peak values of 2006-2007 on average.  You're options are trying a short sale, letting the bank foreclose, or holding and renting it out until the market picks up.  Some renters are finding that their landlords are doing a combination of all 3!

According to KomoNews, "the high volume of homes in default and foreclosure is generating more cases of distressed homeowners knowingly renting their homes for the cash and defaulting on the mortgage".  What this means is that potential renters need to be more informed than ever. 

Notice of Trustees Sale documents are public record, and available on the majority of county websites in Washington State.  This includes King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.  It's very easy to search using your properties address or parcel #. If you need help finding that information, you can visit www.talonnw.com. 

Washington State does not have data available for pre-foreclosures, meaning that if someone is behind on their mortgage payments there is no way to find out.  This differs from other states nationwide.

If the property does go into foreclosure, you'll eventually see a notice posted to the front door or on-line via a web search.  At this point it's good to know your rights as a tenant.  The notice of trustee document will have a contact number to contact who's handling the file, and file number for reference. 

Here's a great time line of the entire process, taken from KomoNews.

It's very much the same type of research that our property information department does on a daily basis.  We talk to many listing agents who want to know what equity a person has on the property, if there are liens, notices, etc.  This really empowers our agents to make good decisions on a listing price, and make a sound choice in whether or not to take the listing.  The same type of research should be used when finding a home to rent!

There is much to be done for tenants rights in this type of circumstance, but it's always better to be informed and prepared going in.  If you see a deal thats too good to be true, it just may be.

Photo courtesy of

Chego101

Introducing Karen Jolokai from our Lynnwood office!

Hector Martin, Talon's senior account manager out of our Lynnwood office, often times describes Karen Jolokai as "his right hand and half of his left".  Big kudos, but it's definitely deserved.  Karen brings her friendly personality and real estate experience to the table when helping our clients with various customer service requests.  As one real estate agent mentioned, Karen "makes her life so easy"!

Originally from Chicago, she's been in the Puget Sound region since 1980.  Karen's been married to her husband Den since 1978, and have two children and a dog named Bella.

The Lighter Side of Title Insurance

A handful of employees at The Talon Group have embarked on a mission to poke a little fun at how dry and serious title insurance can be for consumers and other real estate related professionals. 

Throw these guys a standard el-cheapo flip camera and the fun begins after 5 pm on Fridays...then Tuesdays, Thursdays or whenever else someone comes up with silly idea on how to involve our "talonted" staff in a short video.  

Back on Mothers Day, I was explaining this video series to my father, a 60 year veteran of the real estate industry. He smiled and told me that Gordon Schlicke had already created a wildly popular topic named The Lighter Side of Lending. Naturally I googled it to confirm what he was talking about. Sure enough, Gordon has even written a book about it! 

You can view the results of the lighter side of title insurance Fun with Title Insurance on the front page of our website. We plan on creating four or five of these vids to balance out the more conservative educational videos we have been linking up to our site. 

In the sexy business of title and escrow, sometimes you need to jump up and down waving your arms just to get noticed.  Cute huh?

Megan Hooker - Residential Resale Transaction AND Short Sale Coordinator

"I think the most important part of transaction coordinating, regardless of whether or not it's a short sale, is to address and communicate potential issues to the agents before they become a problem.  If I don't have an answer for an agent, I usually know who to call to get the answer and can get that to them in a timely manner."  - Megan Hooker (425) 766-3138 or FAX: (425) 732-4851

For our Megan Hooker, transaction coordinating isn't just a job, with a husband, two small boys and multiple animals it's more like a way of life!  A Washington State native, Megan was born in Walla Walla and has lived in Snohomish County for the last 25-ish years.  She has spent the last 10 of those years as a transaction coordinator with The Talon Group.  (btw, Happy Anniversary, Megan!)

Megan recently accepted a new challenge in that she is now an integral part of shortsaleswashington.com while continuing with her existing role as a transaction coordinator for The Talon Group.  Megans extensive experience (13 years transaction coordinating plus 5 years in escrow) made her a natural choice to assist with the workflow design and "Talon style" communication for this new short sale coordination service.  

Regardless of whether you're a long time client of Megan's or have just recently started working with her, please be assured that she is looking forward to working with you on your next transaction.