All About Titles with Rock Realty

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Thirteen ten Wi b A and asked the experts. Brought
to you this morning by Rock Realty Online, Rockwisconsin dot com.
That's our o ck Wisconsin dot com, great website resource.
We've been looking for something fun to do today. If
you're at the office, I won't tell your boss.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
We'll keep it secret between us.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Head on over to Rockwisconsin dot com. Check out some
of the great listings again where they're looking to buy,
looking to sell, looking to sell to buy, anything like that.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Matt, the team at Rock.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Realty would love to talk to you, love to work
with you. Speaking of Matt, joining us in studio this
morning is Matt Heyman with ROCKREALTEA.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Matt, how you been good? And good morning, Sean, how
are you not.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Doing really good?

Speaker 1 (00:39):
You keep bringing these If these were songs, they'd be
called bangers. You keep bringing these beautiful homes to us
each and every week, and this week no exception with
our featured listing, and we'll talk about that and just more.
We're going to talk this week also about title companies.
We've got a special guest in studio. Will introduce her
in just a moment, But first Matt I mentioned the

(00:59):
website Wisconsin dot com. I haven't mentioned rocklistings dot Com
and real quick, you guys have a great promotion going
on with totally spaced out and people can get all
the details at rocklistings dot Com, can't they.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
Yeah, this is a brand new promotion started the spring
and we're getting good feedback on it. If you visit there.
We've got some information on how you can get mobile
storage provided with your next purchaser sales. So have a
storage container dropped off at your at your house right
in the driveway, fill it up at your leisure and
then they will pick it up either stored or bring

(01:33):
it right to the next place.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
What a great promotion.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
That is all the details at rocklistings dot com. That's
rocklistings dot Com.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Matt, let's start.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Let's start off talking about this week's featured listing and
a beautiful, beautiful home. You know we always talk about
some of these great neighborhoods. Another fantastic neighborhood as well.
This house right in Stote. It looks to be quite
quite not only newer, but well maintained. Let's talk about
this home on the Larviick Drive.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
What Larviick Lane seven seventeen Larwick Lane in the great
city of Stouton.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
You know, this has got.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
Everything that you'd want. I mean, in my opinion, you've
got twenty eight hundred square feet, you've got almost a
third acre.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Four bedrooms, three and a half pass.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
That means three shower head shown that's three shower heads.
So no, it's it's an awesome place, and it's got
great curb appeal. It's one of those places that you
can buy and probably stay for quite a while. I
would think, until you need to downsize.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Three car garage.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Three car garage, Oh well, I have two when you
can have three.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
It also has and one of the things I really
like about a two matt is an actual porch, like
an actual like you can walk up, you can sit
on a chair at the front entry way.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
You don't see a lot.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
And I don't know if this is I've heard from
folks in construction that they're coming back, but for a while,
they're hard to find a nice porch to. You know,
you don't always the neighbors in when they stop by.
It's nice to have a porch. You can stand out
there and talk with them.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, I agree, I mean it does it does seem
to be making a comeback. I don't know how many
people use it or how many people just like to
decorate it, but either way, it's making a comeback.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
It is a win win, beautiful, beautiful home again right
on Larwick Lane and Stone. Of course, Patrick is the
listing agent on this. Patrick College and give him a
call six So wait three three to two twenty one
seventy one. That's three three to two twenty one seventy
one for Patrick. Say hey, Patrick, I want to see
this beautiful house in Stone. Of course you can see
it as well at Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's Rock

(03:33):
roc K Wisconsin dot com. And Matt, we are not
alone this week. We've got you brought along a special guest.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
This morning we did.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
Yeah, we get Mary Beth. Marybeth call from Nation's Title
is with us today.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Born and Marybeth.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
Morning, Sean, how are you?

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Oh, I'm doing well. Great to see you.

Speaker 5 (03:50):
Thank you for having me, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
For coming in this morning.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
And Matt, let's talk about kind of the role with
you and Marybeth, and you know, for you working with
a title company, what's that like and what's relationship working
with Marabet?

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Yeah, we try to partner with the best companies around, right,
And so we chose Nations Title. We've worked with a
number of title companies and you know, we like Nations
because they make the process easy, right, and you know,
it's it's pretty insane the amount of work they do
on the title side. It's more than just title insurance.
You know, they'll have closers that are putting together all

(04:22):
the debits and the credits, right, and they're going to
be calling and getting utility figures, and they're gonna be
calling and getting loan balanced payoffs just to make sure
that everybody's getting the right amount of money. And they're
coordinating with the lenders. So you know, they've been a
partner with us for a number of years now and
it's it's been a smooth partnership for us and our clients.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Should be a great, great program, a lot of great
information ahead. And Marybeth, before we start talking about the
day to day life of somebody working in a title company,
what about you?

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Are you a Madison Natives. What's kind of your background?

Speaker 5 (04:55):
I grew up in Middleton, Godsend, so I've lived here
my entire life. Life now to live into forest, but
I've been doing this for Oh gosh, yeah, it's getting
close to forty. I think. So I started when I
was five.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
I'd say started very young.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, you seem to pick good, good areas to going
from Middleton to to Forest I and there's it's like
the I've got to guess you've seen some some changes.
I drive through like Middleton once in a while now
and I'm like, wait where am I?

Speaker 5 (05:25):
Yeah, we actually sold our house in Wanta Key a
few years back, so Wanta Key's like.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Oh that's yeah.

Speaker 5 (05:32):
Yeah major downsized, Yeah, yeah, a downside.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Find that place and probably worked with Matt Rock talking
this morning. Wow Mary Beth is with Nation's Title. Of course,
Matt Heypeman with Rock Realty as well, going to talk
this week about title companies and Mariabeth For folks that
don't know what exactly when it comes to title insurance,
what's covered, what's its purpose, what's its role?

Speaker 2 (05:56):
What do we need to know? There?

Speaker 5 (05:57):
So many years when I got into the bus business,
a gentleman explained kind of title insurance because it gets
a little complicated, almost like your homeowners insurance fine print.
Said to me, your title insurance ensures you for what
happens in the future. It's a one time fee that
you pay if you refinance, if you sell your property
and your homemoders Insurance ensures you for what happens in

(06:20):
the future.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
Also the past for the title comfort title insurance, so
you're you.

Speaker 5 (06:25):
Know what happens in your past, Like if you refinanced,
you're going to have a different mortgage than you had
when you first purchase your property. We search judgments for
buyers and sellers to see if there are any There's
a lot put into searching title insurance.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
It's interesting you mentioned like judgments and everything. I was
just talking with a colleague down in Edgerton about her property.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Also she discovered.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
That some company had had a lean on on her property.
Is that the type of thing you would uncovered.

Speaker 5 (07:01):
Yeah. So we have a situation currently going on where
when they there were two condos, they're side by side condos,
and they discovered that the mortgages are on the condo
that the people are selling from a different owner. Is
it very common? No, but it took a long time
to catch So we're working through that with It's complicated,

(07:23):
but you got to you got to get them removed,
you got to get leans removed before you can sell
a property.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
You do the work of saints.

Speaker 1 (07:32):
By the way, because as you're talking about this, it's
it's these are real people, real live, really important work
that you're doing.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
But it also sounds like it's a.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Lot of hard work and a lot of research and
a lot of pouring over data and understanding laws and
possession and these type. Do you spend a lot of
time like staring at a computer stream, like working through
all the stuff you and the team, well.

Speaker 5 (07:58):
Fortunately I had done that, dabbled in a little searching,
but it really takes people that understand it. We have
some amazing title staff that yes, they are searching over documents.
Searches could take you know, you have to go back
forty to sixty years on purchases. You have to really

(08:19):
go back. You got to know what you're looking for.
And yeah, they are staring at a screen looking at
something and.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
You have to understand the legally, that's a big deal.

Speaker 5 (08:27):
You have to understand what to put on, what not
to put on. You know. Common thing for judgments are
people like have a common last name, will just say Smith,
which there are thousands of Smiths. So sometimes you show
stuff and people are like, these aren't mine, and it's
it's the only way that you know, these judgments get
paid in some cases if you sell a piece of

(08:50):
property or you're buying a piece of property.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
That is fascinating talking this morning with Mary Vetshi is
with Nation's Title. Of course, I've got offices in Middleton,
east side of Madison, Stote in Janesville as well. Of
course Rockrealty brings you ask the experts here on thirteen
ten WIBA. You can learn more about Rock Realty online
Rockwisconsin dot com. That's roc K Wisconsin dot com. Their
telephon number six O eight six seven three fifty four hundred.

(09:14):
That's six oh eight six seven three fifty four hundred.
Speaking of telephone numbers, I got questions for Mary Beth.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
I want to learn more.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
About title or you've got a question about titles. Of course,
their telephone number is six oh eight eight one nine
eighty six eighty eight. That's eight one nine eighty six
eighty eight.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
And Marybeth costs.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
People say, oh, this is obviously something that you want
to have done. I think probably required a lot of
cases to have done. What does it cost, who pays?
How does that all work. Now's that break down.

Speaker 5 (09:40):
So in the state of Wisconsin, if you sell a
piece of real estate in Wisconsin, the owner's coverage, which
is to ensure the new and or clear title, is
paid for by the sellers. In other states that is different.
Sometimes the buyers pay for it, or it's a choice.
All the rates are filed with the commissioner in for instance,
like the state of Wisconsin, and they're determined by our underwriters.

(10:05):
So they're filed rates, and there's just you can't differ
from them anymore. You can't go up or down, you know.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
And that means like it's the same rate regardless of
who you used throughout the state.

Speaker 5 (10:16):
Yes, wow, Yes, there are rare. Yeah, there are discounts
if you have prior policies from previous title companies they
give you the underwriters give you fifteen, some do twenty.
Most of them are fifteen now, but commonly all the
underwriters are within you know, the filed rates. They're all
pretty much the same. There are some minor differences, but

(10:39):
most of them are the same.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
So with costs being relatively equal, Matt, this kind of
comes back to you. Obviously, we talk with we're talking
with Mary about this morning at Nation's Title. You mentioned
you work with Mary about the Nation's Title quite a bit.
Obviously the differentiation isn't cost, there's other reasons. Let's talk
about some of the benefits of working with from your
person afective Nations Title and Marybeth, what are some of

(11:02):
those great benefits for you?

Speaker 4 (11:04):
Yeah, I would say, I mean, what it comes down
to is a service number one, right, great service and communication, right,
and those kind of go hand in hand. However, you
can have great service and have never heard from the
title company until practically closing days, right, So it's nice
to have a company that deals with the details, that
knows to be on the lookout for certain red flags,

(11:25):
will follow up just to make sure that they have
everything correct on the closing statement well before it's panic time.
And so yeah, they're they're very good at communicating and
you know, they tend to give us the smoothest transactions,
which helps helps us.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Right, Yeah, so that's Nations for you.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, that is fantastic.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Here talking this morning of course with Matt Heyman of
Rock Realty and Mary Beth at Nation's Title, talking this
week about title companies and what exactly they do and
why they are so important. We're going to talk a
little bit more about about title companies wire fraud. Obviously,
the fraud is out there, and UH, with the digital age,
it becomes more common, more complex. We'll talk with Marybeth
about some of the details on that. Will also take

(12:08):
a look some of the other great features of this
week's featured listening. We'll do all of that in just
a moment. In the meantime, Ben to the website yet
get there right now, Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's r
ock Wisconsin dot com. For Rockrealty, there's tephone number six
o' eight six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six
oh eight six seven three fifty four hundred. More of
asked the experts with Matt Heyman and Rockrealty. That comes
your way next right here in thirteen ten wib.

Speaker 6 (12:30):
A thirteen ten WI b A and ask the experts.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Hanging out this morning with our friends from Rockrealty. We
got Matt Heyman and Matt brought along Marybeth with Nations
Title talking this week about title companies and UH mentioned
the website rock Wisconsin dot com.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
It's a great website, and we.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Also talked a little bit earlier about rocklistings dot Com.
One of the really cool things that they're offering at
Rock Realty is a partnership with totally spaced Out.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
They drop off a.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
Container you can move your stuff at your leisure and
of course they can get it from your new home
or your old home to your new home or if
you've got a transition period you want to have it
in storage for a while. They've got you covered all
the details on that promotion right at rocklistings dot Com.
That's Rocklistings dot Com and Matta. As we left that
last segment, we're going to talk in a moment with
Marybeth about wirefraud and some of the other things to

(13:29):
be looking out for in some of the work that
they do at Nations Title. But you were talking about
kind of working with Mary bethn working with the team
at Nation's Title. When it comes to your clients, when
it comes to buyers and sellers, how much interaction do
they have between you and the title company? What like
Like let's say I'm buying a home, would I have
any contact with the title or are you kind of

(13:50):
that intermediary for everything out?

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Does that work?

Speaker 4 (13:52):
Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, for most things,
we're more of an intermediary. But when it comes to
the title company, I then they are like they will
need different.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Authorizations and such.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
Right, they're gonna they're gonna need permission to, you know,
as you as a seller, permission to contact the mortgage
company and find out what the payoff is for the loan. Right,
They're gonna need maybe permission to contact some of the
local utilities and figure out, you know, what the final
utility bill should be or propane things like that. So

(14:22):
there is a connection, you know, nearer to closing, they
try to try to get all that information down on
the ledger and make sure everybody comes out straight and true.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Is every purchase involved a title company every transaction.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
In Wisconsin it is a title company state versus like
I think in Illinois they use attorneys and it's a
little sloppy.

Speaker 5 (14:41):
In Illinois. It's like attorney driven state Wisconsin. You know,
railtors direct, the seller directs where the title insurance goes.
But not like years ago, used to a lot of
people had attorneys. Not so much anymore.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Are people coming in on closing day, Marybeth, And that
is that kind of the day where they're signing. Are
they coming into you and signing everything? Or am I
am I off on that?

Speaker 5 (15:03):
Nope, you are correct. You know a lot of times
sellers might pre sign. You know, when COVID came along,
we have now it's called remote online. We use proof
or it's also known as notarized, which was approved. There's
other sites, but it was approved by the state of Wisconsin,
and so a lot of people do that.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
But you know, do you have to use your driver's
license for that? Yeah, and like hold it up to
the camera or what do you got to do that?

Speaker 5 (15:29):
I mean, it's all secure, but I mean you got
to verify, you know, I DS and so on and
so forth. But usually, you know, buyers and sellers do
come and we're a table funding state, so we sit
at the table and you know from the transaction. We're
in California, everything is held in escrow.

Speaker 4 (15:47):
And during COVID, though, there were times we were signing
on top of cars, right because you couldn't be indoors,
so you know, yeah, that was the.

Speaker 5 (15:54):
That was signing. I'm outside there inside with the door bidding.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
It through the mail slot exactly.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
It was interesting.

Speaker 5 (16:02):
It got kind of crazy people some of the places
were washing their pens, just got cheap ones through. Yeah,
it got really creative.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
That is, that is fascinating stuff.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Talking this week, of course with Matt Hygeman of Rock Realty,
joined by Mary Bethwick. Nations Title of course, I've got
offices in Middleton, east side of Madison, Stoughton and Janesville
as well. Of course you can google Nations Title find
them online telephone number six.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
So eight eight eighty six eighty eight. That's eight nine
eighty six eighty eight.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
And uh, speaking of kind of the time, as we've
we are in and things we've gone through. Computers, great tool,
great resource. People do use technology and other things to
commit fraud. And I know what wire fraud is something
you guys are on the lookout for at the title company.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Let's talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 5 (16:50):
Yeah, wire fraud is huge and they are really getting
creative how they can go in and hack people's personal emails.
Change it by one small thing, and then the big
thing is that you know, people wire their funds. Buyers
wire their funds in, Sellers wire their funds in. We
wire funds out for the proceeds of the seller. You know,

(17:11):
if they're moving out of state and people are getting
really creative. So we've teamed up with a place called
closing Lock and they are verifying they got IDs, they're
verifying emails, they're verifying the wiring instructions for both buyers
and sellers. Very secure website, and we've done that and

(17:33):
it's ensured, So another extra layer of protection for people
so they're not uncomfortable wiring funds or wiring funds out.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
It sounds like a lot of your obviously the main
part of your job is really doing that research, but
it also seems like security is a huge role. As
we've been talking just about the different steps and the processes,
a really important part of obviously protecting personal information, protecting transactions,
that's a big responsibility. You mentioned being insured in other things,
having those assurances. I'm going to guess that's partially one

(18:06):
of the things that Matt loves working with you with.
But it's going to be a great, great peace of
mind for the folks that you are working with.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Marybeth.

Speaker 5 (18:12):
Yes, absolutely, when you can you know very you know,
secure people when they're wiring funds in or wiring funds
out is huge. We don't share information with you know,
people we we when we get their information. It's not
like we can sell it. I know some places sell
information of buyers and sellers. We don't do that. There's

(18:34):
a lot of stuff that's a public record. When you
file a warranty deed, when you file a mortgage, those
are public records with the registered deeds. So people can
you know, find that information out, but there isn't you know,
you know, important information to me is like your social
your phone numbers, your emails, that's not part of the

(18:55):
public record.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
It's always interesting to me because people I think assume the
stuff that is part of like I don't think people
always understand certain things our public record. You mentioned obviously
these transactions that need that stuff go down to the
county courthouse or the county repository and be like, hey,
can I pull the the you know and see all that.
But it's really great to hear that that the other
stuff that's.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
Able to be protected. You guys keep that stuff nice
and safe and.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
And Marybeth for folks as we as we've learned, it's
been a very informative form of a conversation for folks
that are are you know, whether looking to buy or
other things, any piece of advice for them, just kind
of guidance when it comes to you know, working with
your agent, working with the title company, kind of anything
overall that that you've seen that maybe think if you
get that word out to folks, you'd love to do
it somebody you'd like to share with them.

Speaker 5 (19:39):
Well, you know, like Matt said, which appreciate you saying
that service is really huge and now and if your
staff is very knowledgeable, which we have, it's very key.
But service to me has always been the top of everything,
you know, with everybody having you know, the same pricing
within a few dollars here or there, services really key.

(20:00):
And then having the people that know what they're doing,
what they're talking about. If you have an issue, you
have someone here locally that can answer your question regarding
a title issue, you know, a closing issue, and to
me that's just super important. Especially this is a huge
transaction you know in your life, you know, so you

(20:21):
got to know and then dealing with you know, the
agents you know like Rock that are very knowledgeable about
their clients, which helps us. It's just you know, it's
an important transaction, so you want to make sure you're
dealing with people that are knowledgeable.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Not that there's anyone out there that doesn't work with
Rock Realty, but could somebody, for example, if somebody made
that mistake, let's just say, could they request a specific
title company to be working with or how does that work?

Speaker 5 (20:46):
Yes, so sellers direct. I mean so for instance, you
know the listing on the listening that a realture has.
You know, can the sellers say, you know, no, I
want to use this title company. I have a relationship
with them, and absolutely they can't perfect Yeah, absolutely that
you know, the seller directs it. But you know, obviously

(21:08):
people suggest, you know, this is who I work with.
They got great service, And a lot of people think
that they have to go back to the title company
where they purchased the home from so they get the discount.
That is not correct. Title companies do not share their
prior title insurance, but they usually can get it from

(21:29):
that title company and we can use it. So title
companies can use other title.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
Companies previous insurance.

Speaker 5 (21:35):
Previous insurance to give the sellers the discount.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
Really good to know, and that's why I'm going to
jot this down. Nations Title Nations Title Telephone number six
eight eight eighty six eighty eight. That's eight one nine
eighty six eighty eight. Mariabeth, thank you so much for
joining us this morning.

Speaker 5 (21:51):
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Great to meet you.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
Very informative and before we head out today, Matt one
final revisit because it's a beautiful, beautiful home, this week's
featured listing house right in Stoton on Larvic Lane. We
talked about the garages, we talked about the beautiful curb appeal,
we talked about the porch.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
We didn't talk much about the interior.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
And it's got a beautiful, beautiful inside, very bright, very open.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Did I see vaulted ceiling.

Speaker 4 (22:16):
Yeah, vaulted ceilings, stainless steel, appliances in the kitchen, a
lot of windows for letting a natural light, and lower
level that's finished for entertaining.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
It's a great, great property.

Speaker 1 (22:27):
If you're interested in taking the look, called Patrick up
or right now Patrick Collins six oh eight three three two.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
Twenty one seventy one.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
That's six oh eight three three two twenty one seventy
one for Patrick, of course. You can learn more about
Rock Realty on their website, Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's
Rock Rock Wisconsin dot com. This is asked the experts
here on thirteen ten WIBA