Real Estate Sales and Mortgage Loan Closing & Settlement Agent Services

Contact Us

For more information or to arrange real estate or mortgage loan services please contact us.

Addresses

618 Douglas Ave.
P.O. Box 270
Ames, IA 50010-0270 USA
See the Location page for a map and links to driving directions.

Telephone

515-239-5000 (Voice)
515-239-5010 (Fax)

Email

For general inquiries, please send email to info "at" amesiowalaw.com. See the About Us page for links to additional email addresses.

How the Mortgage Loan Closing Process Works

We provide real estate closing and settlement agent services for commercial mortgage loans and for the for-sale-by-owner real estate sales.

1. Contact us for settlement services pricing and availability. We will forward our instructions and, if needed, our wiring instructions upon request.

2. The Lender makes a formal request. Please supply

   1. Borrower name (including any spouse regardless of whether spouse is a borrower) and contact information

   2. Seller name and contact information

   3. Real estate agency contact information

   4. Property location

   5. Proposed closing date

   6. Purchase price

   7. Copy of purchase agreement

   8. Requested title policy endorsements

   9. Location of abstract of title

3. In addition to making the formal request for mortgage closing services, the Lender will need to instruct us on their preferred method of obtaining a title policy. Unless otherwise instructed, we will obtain a title policy through the Iowa Title Guaranty Division of the Iowa Finance Authority. Iowa Title Guaranty’s commitments and title policies are on the standard ALTA form accepted throughout the secondary mortgage market. Because Iowa law prohibits the sale within the state of other forms of title insurance, the cost for the other forms of title insurance cannot and will not appear on the HUD-1 settlement statement and must be incorporated into the lender's fees.

4. The title search must be completed and forwarded to our office. For purchase transactions, the Lender should contact the Borrower and instruct that the abstract of title be continued and forwarded to our office for examination. For refinance transactions, a quicker title certification process is available.

   Note to out-of-state lenders: Although the Iowa title system is reputed to be vastly different from all other states, the process really is only slightly different. Other states may have all “title work,” including the title insurance sale, completed within one firm. Iowa’s main difference is that two or three firms may be involved: First, an “abstractor” searches public records and compiles the relevant title documents into an “abstract of title;” second, an attorney examines the abstract of title and renders a title opinion; and third, the closing/settlement agent obtains a commitment for a title policy in the same form issued nation-wide.

5. Our real estate attorneys will examine the abstract of title, render an opinion on the condition of the title, and obtain a commitment for issuance of a title policy. As soon as a commitment becomes available, we will forward it to the Lender.

6. The Lender will need to forward the loan package or instructions for retrieving the loan package. It is very important that Lender let us know the total net funding amount.

7. We will prepare the HUD-1 settlement statement for review and approval of the Lender and the Borrower’s and Seller’s representatives.

8. We will conduct a settlement and signing conference with the Borrower, carefully explaining all of the usual mortgage loan closing documents and obtaining signatures and providing notorial acknowledgments where appropriate.

9. We will arrange for all post-closing title searches and filings; we will prepare checks on our federally insured trust account, which is regularly audited by the Iowa Supreme Court; we will forward the necessary payments as shown on the HUD-1 settlement statement; and we will timely return the loan closing documents to the Lender by courier.

10. We provide all of the necessary post-closing follow-up, including making sure that all transfer and loan documents are correctly recorded and returned. We also make sure that the issuer of the title policy has all of the necessary documentation to provide an acceptable title policy for the lender.

Real Estate Closings

Overview of Residential Real Estate Transactions in Iowa. This is a short overview of the steps involved in a residential real estate transaction in the Ames, Iowa area. The overview breaks the typical transaction into six basic phases and describes the common steps. The intent is to provide a basic familiarity with these steps and the terminology frequently used.