We understand it’s a seller’s market. Nevertheless, for you buyers, please do not hesitate to contact me for some help. You might need me to refer you to the best realtor, lender, attorney, inspector, etc for you to be the one to win. I’m only licensed in title insurance and plan on staying licensed in title only, but let us be your resource center for home buying!
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Morning everyone,
All I can say is WOW WOW WOW! Seeing the amazing teamwork last Friday with probably one of the busiest closing days of the year, was an absolute treat. We always talk about how no job is too big, but more importantly, no job is too small. We all stepped in, stepped up, stepped back, and stepped forward and adjusted with the day. Heard once that life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it. Think about that. We cannot control what happens to us, but we can control how we react to it. We are continuously getting better. It’s is seriously so awesome. Like we always say, “Progress, not Perfection.” As we grow, we are going to be bringing in new faces, new personalities, new skill sets, but everyone we bring in will share the same views on our culture and overall outlook on what’s important to our core values. Our core values make up our culture. We are an ego-less, honest, hard-working, well rewarded, much respected company that sees and also, brings out the best in everyone we touch. We are limitless, yet set healthy boundaries. We are fighters, yet choose our battles well. We are leaders, yet know when to follow. We are all a part of the SimpleTown Family. There are going to be days where we will be asked to help fellow teammates who have untimely absences from work, and because we can all step in and do whatever task for the day that needs to be done, that is what we mean by ego-less. That happened on Friday and as we all came together, we were able to fight through anything thrown our way. That is because of the team we have put in place and continue to build upon. We have great depth. We have a pack of leaders. We have people who genuinely want to get better every single day. Think about it. We all want to literally get better every single day of our lives and we know the greater good touches everyone. Team, have a great Monday morning. Please remember that you are appreciated. Your hard work, integrity and attitude are all choices you have the gift of making every day you wake up. Those choices will not only reap rewards, but bring along with it a ripple effect to everyone we touch, and ultimately, we will remain respected. Will leave you with this quote by James Baldwin that hit me hard over the weekend. “Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by other’s doing it” It’s a WE thing. -Luke Tyler President and CEO Simplicity Title Business Faith, what??? You do title insurance, what does that have to do with Faith, and what is Business Faith anyway? Faith’s definition is “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” As a business owner, I have to constantly remind myself of Simplicity’s Business Faith. Simplicity runs with its own self-sustaining fuel; high employee morale, autonomy, pride, accomplishment, care for the product output. This fuel also produces a genuine care of one another and a faith in our company.
As the leader of Simplicity, I need to look at the big picture but also make sure everything runs smoothly on the day to day activities. Yes, we have managers to oversee that, exceptional managers at that, nevertheless there is something more than people at work here at Simplicity. We have to have faith in the overall “being” and functionality of Simplicity. With faith, we believe that everything will always work out if we always do the right thing, no matter who or what pressures us to do different. With faith, we can alleviate panic and anxiety in the work place (we will touch on that next week). We will continue to stay honest with ourselves and our customers, and ultimately have faith not only in one another, but faith in Simplicity Title as a whole. Micromanaging will crush any business. It just doesn’t work. Hiring the best in the business, letting them do their job, and creating a vision that everyone can believe in, is why Simplicity is growing so nicely. We have complete trust in the Simplicity Family and we are confident in one another that we will all play our part and continue to work hard. We trust in one another and we trust that Simplicity will continue to grow on the honorable path, and that all comes down to Simplicity’s Business Faith. - Luke Tyler, President and CEO Last week, we discussed the importance of the owner’s policy when purchasing a home and gave the example of the $150k home equity lien found on the property 2 years later when the couple refinanced. The lien was now the current home owner’s responsibility even though it was the seller’s Line of Credit. Key point to last week was that liens “run with the land” so once you transfer title, and a lien is attached to the property, that lien is now the current owner’s problem. Our job is to make sure you obtain title free and clear of any liens. Lastly, when you purchase, we discussed you get two policies; owner’s and lender’s policies. We discussed the owner’s, now time for the lender’s.
The second policy is a Lender’s Policy. Lenders require their borrowers to obtain title insurance so the lender knows that their mortgage is recorded in first lien position. (cough cough, line of credit example) So someone just purchased two years ago and they are refinancing, and they wonder why they need to pay for title insurance again. They are paying off the existing mortgage in full, in which there is a lender’s title policy attached to that mortgage; so the policy stays with that paid off mortgage. When refinancing, the lender will require a new policy for the new mortgage. A lot can happen in two years. Within those two years, there could have been a borrower with a $100k hospital bill that could not get paid. The hospital would then record a lien on the property as collateral. We see child support liens, defects in title from prior owners, etc. The bank needs to know that the money they are lending is secured, and they can do that by making sure their mortgage is recorded in first lien position. So yes, people who are refinancing are paying again, but they are not paying nearly as much, and remember, an owner’s policy stays with the owner as long as they own the property so only a new lender’s policy is required. If the new loan amount is less than the existing loan amount then they will get the full refinance rate which is a much lower rate than the basic rate of when they purchased. Title insurance is so important for you, the home buyer, and once again, please remember, this is YOUR CHOICE on which title company to use. We will make sure your title is free and clear so when you purchase or refinance your property, you know your title is not only secure, but also the closing process is made simple. Learn more at Simplicity Title. - Luke Tyler, President and CEO It still astonishes me how many people spend thousands of dollars on title insurance when they purchase or refinance a home, but have no idea what title insurance is. So let’s give the people a comparison of what they know. When people think of insurance, they think of car insurance, health or life insurance, not title insurance. Car, life, and health are all insurances that cover a future event. People are paying multiple premiums in the event of a future car crash, death, or doctor’s visit. Please notice the words future event and paying multiple unregulated premiums. Title insurance is in a way, the opposite of these insurances. Foremost, we need to understand that there are two title insurance policies, and most importantly, it is YOUR DECISION as the buyer on which title company you want to work with. This week we will discuss the owner’s policy.
An Owner’s Title Policy insures the past history of the land and is a one-time, price regulated premium payment paid at closing. Please note the words Past, One-Time and Price Regulated. Simply stated, “title” is the right of ownership in property. When a person holds the Title to property, it simply means they have proper and legal ownership. Title insurance protects your investment by shielding you from any claims against your title in the property purchased. Title Insurance is an insurance policy guaranteeing that the title to property is clear, and that the owner has the right to sell the property. Accordingly, once a title insurance policy is issued, your interest in the property purchased is protected, subject to the exclusions and conditions contained in the policy. Should a problem later arise with the title, we will protect you in any litigation that may ensue, including paying costs, attorneys’ fees, and expenses. If the claim is ultimately proven to be valid, we will also pay the costs of your claim, up to the amount of the policy, or will perfect the title as insured, at its own expense. Blah Blah Blah, let’s give a real life example already!!!! This story just came up the other day. Buyers purchased their home and they had a terrible run in with a title company that was not doing their due diligence on clearing title. The title company is supposed to order what is called a “run down” search the day before closing to see if any liens or judgments were recorded in the county during the time of the original search and the date of closing (average time lapse of 30-90 days from original search to closing). The seller’s took out a home equity loan after the original search and before closing, so it was not picked up in the original search. So $150,000.00 later and after closing, that lien was now the responsibility of the home buyers because it was never caught until they refinanced a couple years down the road. Even worse, the seller’s continued to draw from the line of credit and ran it up to the full $150k amount. The buyers (current home owners) then had to file a claim with the title company that has now gone out of business. Guess who else was never found? Yup, you got it right, the sellers! They took off and managed to steal $150k without anyone knowing for years! Oh, I am just getting started, please look out for next week’s blog for more on why title insurance is so important to have, and why it is even more important that you pick your own title company! Next week we will dive deeper and discuss the lender’s policy and the ongoing question of “I just got title insurance a year ago when I purchased, why do I need it again when I am refinancing only one year later?!” - Luke Tyler, President and CEO I always get asked how I came up with the name Simplicity Title and I refer back to the months before the company was even established. Obviously, I needed a name to file the LLC, and I was super energized to get this business going, nevertheless I couldn’t settle on a name so I was at a standstill.
After running countless names through my head for weeks, trying to figure out which name, represented not only myself, but what the vibe of this soon to be, new title insurance and settlement company was to be. I literally obsessed over finding the perfect name. It had to be the nucleus of everything I envisioned. It has to pull everything together; employees, clients, culture, branding, etc. I will be the first to tell you that I am a bit insane when it comes to branding and yes, somewhat of a perfectionist in that regard. I wasn’t necessarily thinking of a name that would represent title insurance or even real estate for that matter, but rather a name that best represented the heartbeat of the business. Please remember, at the time of reflecting on this, I didn’t have a business yet, nor a heartbeat, just a vision. I wasn’t aware of all it took to run a successful title insurance and settlement company, but I definitely knew what business heartbeat I wanted this company to have. I wanted a name that could unite the employees, customers and overall business model. I wanted to “live the brand” and I wanted others to understand what we were all about just by seeing our name/logo. With that said, when I finally thought I couldn’t think anymore, I awoke in the middle of the night and had one of my favorite songs in my head. The song was called Simple. Boom! That was it; Simplicity Title was the name and it was perfect! Our job is to not only make our customers’ job simple, but make our internal work processes as simple as possible. During my undergrad, I think one of the most important things I learned was public speaking. And through that process, I learned to keep the presentation very simple so people could understand it. What better way to relay our message to our employees/customers than to name our company after our living brand. And there it was, Simplicity Title, “Your Title Made Simple” was born. - Luke Tyler, President and CEO Simplicity Title‘s number one client is our Employees! The thought process is as simple as that. We have built a strong culture over the last 8 years focused on flexibility, autonomy, and genuine care for one another. In our business, every position is an integral part of the overall success of Simplicity. We don’t feel people are expendable. We hire the best, everyone has a say, and we continue to protect home buyers from unforeseen liens and encumbrances that are tied to the land our customers are buying. Without this genuine care and attention to detail, we would not have this great reputation and zero claims!
As the leader of Simplicity, I’ve always believed I am only as good as the people I surround myself with. And with that said, we are the best in the business because of our employees! Genuine care, encouragement, and the ability to lean on one another is what family is all about and we have created that Family Culture. The Simplicity Family is here to stay, and the driving force behind that longevity and sustainability is the simple philosophy that our best client is our employees! - Luke Tyler |
AuthorLuke Tyler is the President and CEO of Simplicity Title, LLC Archives
April 2021
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