Refinance Questions and Answers

What does Counselors Title do in a refinance?

                When a homeowner refinances, the new lender requires that their new loan, which is secured by your property, be the 1^st loan “in line” and that any existing loans or other liens on the property be cleared before the new loan is established. The lender almost always requires the borrower to purchase a lender’s title insurance policy on its behalf to ensure that this happens. At Counselors Title, LLC, our experts conduct a thorough title examination of your property to determine what, if any existing liens exist on your property, work with the lien holders to clear the existing liens either prior to or as a part of the refinance transaction, work with the new lender to ensure that all of its loan requirements are satisfied, conduct the settlement for the refinance, and issue a title insurance policy to the new lender insuring that its loan is in first position.

Don’t I need to go back to the same company that did my purchase to save money?

                NO! There is a common misconception that, in order to take advantage of a reissue discount for a refinance, the borrower must return to the company that did their original purchase.  The District, Maryland and Virginia have all instituted a special Refinance Rate, which essentially provides a full reissue discount (40% discount) on lender's title insurance for all refinance transactions. Therefore, at Counselors Title, LLC, we can provide a Refinance Rate whether we did the original purchase settlement or not!

Can’t anyone do the settlement?

                Like most things in life, you get what you pay for. At Counselors Title, LLC, our experts collectively have over 100 years of experience in the title industry.  Unfortunately, many of the title companies and those banks which conduct settlements do not. All of our titles are examined by our attorneys or licensed settlement officers.   On many occasions, we have had to rectify unresolved title issues such as unreleased deeds of trust because the company that preceded us was more interested in simply getting to the settlement table than taking care of the substantial post settlement follow up that is necessary to properly record the transaction and clear the title to the property. If you want a professional job done, hire a professional company.