1st Quality Title LLC

Jennifer f is a big baby, boo hoo, I served in Iraq, praise and love me pathetic

First, I will begin with our qualifications in writing this critique. This was not our first real estate transaction. My husband and I have bought and sold a total of 8 properties over the last 11 years, with 3 of them being purchased jointly. So we know the difference between poor, mediocre and good realtors and title companies. Of all of our transactions, this was by far, the worst.
We recently sold our home in Ocala, FL and 1^st Quality Title handled the paperwork. Many problems occurred along the way, that included both realtors, the bank and the Title Company. The title company (Debbie Phillips of 1^st Quality Title in Ocala, FL) did not prove to be impressive in the least. We constantly had to call both our realtor and them for updates on the progress.
The buyer’s realtor (Jennifer Hunter of Southern Charm Realty in Ocala, FL) also did not appear to be very competent, as she was very slow to return calls to our realtor and even slower in completing paperwork, often taking days for each task.
During the process, we came to know the buyer’s daughter, who was handling everything. We often spoke with her regarding things she needed to know about the home. It was during these conversations that we learned this was not her first home purchase and that she too felt that this transaction was completely unprofessional. All along, we were told by our realtor (Peggy Pittas of ReMax Allstars Realty in Ocala, FL) that the buyer did not want to close early. However, toward the end, we found out that was far from the truth! She did want to close early but was led to believe it wasn’t possible. Which was not true. She ended up finding out that her lender was dragging their feet but finally got the approval. She also agreed that this title company definitely dropped the ball several times and caused many inconveniences to all.
On the day of closing, the daughter shows up with a power of attorney to complete the document signings. Her realtor had known from the beginning, as did the title company, that the daughter would be signing all of the documents for her mother. Yet none of these «professionals» bothered to ask about and review the power of attorney ahead of time. Which is a very standard practice! I’m not a realtor and I know that. Needless to say, they did not accept the power of attorney and the closing was delayed 24 hours. They had to hire a mobile notary to go to the mother’s home, out of state, and have her sign the documents. I’m not sure who the mobile notary was, but even they were not competent! He did not ensure that the mother signed all the documents correctly and had to go back yet again the following day for more signatures! So, we had yet another delay.
Then, the title company made an error on wiring the funds from closing. They were specifically given the Bank Name, Account Number and the information that it was an account in my name. Yet, they still wired the money to the account in both my name and my husbands. Which caused yet another 24 hour delay, because my husband was not listed on the account. No attention to detail whatsoever. They were told that the account was in my name only.
My husband called Debbie at the Title Company to ask why these mistakes had been made and who is at fault? Debbie said it’s nobody’s fault and then either hung up the phone on my husband or was conveniently disconnected from the phone call. However, Debbie never did call him back, which tells the story and shows just how unprofessional she runs her business. In all our years of real estate transactions, never have we seen such incompetent service.
Those delays in properly closing on our home, cost us additional money due to the errors and inattention to detail of others. We complied with every request and fulfilled all of our obligations as sellers in an extremely timely manner without flaw. We had multiple other activities pending that were delayed and that delay cost us in excess of $ 500. Would I recommend the title company? No. They knew in advance as well that a power of attorney would be used. They were not proactive. They also knew that the buyer was elderly. So when they sent the mobile notary to fix their screw up, they also should have made certain special attention was paid to the signing process, whether by the notary or via a conference call at the time she signed. Failure on their part!
If the title company was squared away, this transaction would’ve closed a lot sooner. However, it didn’t happen that way and both buyer and seller were very inconvenienced. Yet the realtors, title company and bank all walked away with a substantial fee. I would not recommend any of them and can’t say this enough — use a lawyer and eliminate the unjustified and outrageous realtor fees that take away from your hard earned money.