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Chicago Title - Marching ahead and leading the way Chicago Title is leading the way to prepare you for the battleground of CFPB compliance. Please mark your calendar to join us

on September 9, 2014 for a Best Practices Boot Camp webinar. It will be one of the best 1 hours you can find to prepare, and it

is FREE! Attendees will also receive the webinar materials and a White Paper, Six Steps to Total Escrow Security.

Save the Date for our November Seminars! We are pleased to announce that the 2014 line-up for the Chicago Title Annual Claims and Underwriting Seminars will include our very own underwriting panel, a Technology Panel, including Cris Garrick, and our guest speakers will be Barbara Seymour who is with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and Jim Koutrakos with Callison, Tighe & Robinson, LLP. We will have lots of ex-citing topics for you, and plan on presenting them in a fun and engaging format - stay tuned for details! For now, please mark your calendars and plan to be with us for our 29th Annual Claims and Underwriting Seminar.

The dates and cities are as follows:

Tuesday, November 11 - Greenville Wednesday, November 12 - Columbia Tuesday, November 18 - Charleston Wednesday, November 19 - Myrtle Beach

2 Chicago Record Title Volume 18, Issue 3

If youve ever met Sasha Davis, you know that she is a ball of

energy with a big smile, a contagious laugh and that she al-

ways has a million questions for you. Sasha readily admits that

she loves to ask questions, and always has. She says that her

mother always said she should have been an attorney or an

interrogator, but as Sasha always says with a smile Im just

inquisitive! Our office teases her unmercifully about it, but

she is a good sport and just laughs along with everyone.

Sasha has been a good sport her entire life. Growing up in Dar-

lington, SC with lots of family all around helped her cousins,

aunts and uncles all lived on the same street. She has many

memories of good times with family, staying over at her grand-

parents house, and just having fun. She remembers lots of rides

through the woods with her cousins they all had dirt bikes,

but Sasha had to follow along on her blue moped. She drove

the trusty old moped over so many dirt bike trails and tree

roots that finally the fender popped loose and bounced around

as she hit the millions of bumps along the way. One thing was

for certain - her cousins could always hear her coming on that

moped! Sasha says, I wouldnt trade my childhood for any-

thing. It was great!

After graduating from St. Johns High School in Darlington,

Sasha attended Columbia College. She graduated in 1994 with

a B.A. in Music and a minor in Business. During the summer of

1992, she performed at a show in Carowinds in Charlotte, NC.

One thing led to another, and upon graduating from Columbia

College, Sasha moved to Nashville, TN and performed at the

Country Music USA show in the Opryland USA entertain-

ment park. Music was in her blood, and she stayed in Nash-

ville for four years, working in the music industry. Since then,

she has performed as lead singer with two local bands in the

Columbia, SC area, traveling throughout the

state. If you have not heard Sasha sing, you

should!!

Upon returning home to Columbia, Sasha

began employment as a real estate paralegal,

holding that position for three years before

joining us at Chicago Title as an Agency

Representative in 2006. Sasha spent about a year training un-

der and working with Betty Yeates, and assumed her position

when Betty retired. Agents readily came to love Sasha, and we

at CTIC adore her. Sasha always gets the job done on time and

with a willing heart she makes it look so easy! She is ours and

we are glad to have her with us!

And speaking of people who love Sasha. Let us not forget

that she is married to her wonderful husband, John. Sasha and

John were married in 2006 in Maui, Hawaii. (Yes, 2006 was a

BIG year for Sasha!) You should ask to see her wedding pic-

tures and hear the stories of getting married in that beautiful,

romantic setting. And you should hear about how one goes

about packing a wedding gown into a suitcase! Sasha and

John have two children, Wells and Sloane, raised as any good

Gamecock children should be. The St. Bernard, Willow, and

the little cat, Jasmine, round out the family.

Sashas love of the ocean goes deeper than just her wedding in

Hawaii she has her sites set on becoming certified to scuba

dive! For now, her spare time is shared between being an ac-

tive member of her church and church choir, as President of

her homeowners association and with being a member of

CREW (Commercial Real Estate for Women) of the Upstate

of South Carolina.

Title Tale - Sasha Davis

Sasha, performing at the Opryland USA entertain-

ment park, 1992

Sasha & John on their wedding day in Maui, October 22, 2006

The Davis family, (L to R): Sloane, Willow, John, Sasha & Wells

Sasha & John cheering on the Gamecocks!


Important reminders from your Agency Managers There have been technology changes to the CPL system in LetterTrax, (agenttrax.com). If you are

experiencing transitional issues, please call our office or contact the AgentTrax help desk via email at

[email protected] or call 800-586-0031 for support.

Closing Protection Letters can now be edited and voided. Call your Agency Manager for assistance. Reminder to keep an eye on outstanding checks over 90 days old, as well as any dormant client

funds/ledger balances over 6 months old. Funds in dormant bank accounts must be properly resolved

and reconciled monthly until there is a zero balance in the account.

Privacy statements should be given to clients in a real estate closing both for the title insurance agency as well as for the closing attorney to comply with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

Please contact your Agency Manager with any questions!

Company memos provide valuable information Chicago Title always tries to keep our agents posted on up-to-the-minute developments in the industry that may affect the clos-ing processes. Copies of these memos can be found on our website, www.southcarolina.ctic.com. Our most recently posted memos include:

14-05 - CTIC SC Welcomes Jennifer Rubin 14-06 - Allendale County Bank (Fairfax) purchased by Palmetto State Bank (Hampton) 14-07 - Confidential Memo 14-08 - Antecedent Debt Exception with Sunset Clause 14-09 - Forms Update 2014

Chicago Title hosts Lets Talk Dirt monthly conference calls Do you have a topic you would like to discuss? Please do not hesitate to email us! We are pleased to announce our underwriters will be hosting conference call/webinars on the second Tuesday of every month at 10:00 a.m. to assist agents and their office staff with our basic underwriting guidelines. This is a great opportunity that will allow you and your staff to call in and learn all of the up-to-the minute changes in the industry as well as answer any questions you may have, and hear and discuss it all directly with our underwriters! We will release a reminder memo each month announcing the upcoming topic.

If you have any questions, or topics of discussion that you would like to be included in one of our monthly basic underwriting conference calls, please email [email protected]. We would love to hear from you and potentially use your topic to dis-cuss. Your experiences on various topics may be especially pertinent to others across the state, so please speak up when we reach the Q&A portion of the call.

Our topics of interest have included the following:

Tax sales and SC DOR tax expungements How an agent can properly insure over actual and potential restrictive covenant violations Build me up, Buttercup: Insuring Construction Transactions Probate Code Pitfalls and Traps for Dirt Lawyers

If you werent able to get the dirt during our last session, and are interested in more infor-mation on these topics, please do not hesitate to call an underwriter today!


Our State Manager, Claire Manning, has made the phrase, Traps for the Unwary famous! Here

are a few current reminders:

As of January 1, 2014 the S.C. Probate Code was amended and now states that all Powers of Attorney are durable. The power of attorney must be recorded and clearly grant the attorney-in-fact the power to sell or even gift property to himself. Otherwise, a court order permitting this ac-

tion is needed. Also, when a power of attorney deeds property of another by virtue of a POA, the signature block

of the deed should read: John Smith by and through his attorney in fact, John Smith, Jr.

Another amendment to the Probate Code concerns conservatorships. In a conservatorship action, in addition to the filed conservatorship, in order for a conservator to sell real property, he or she must obtain a specific court or-

der permitting him or her to sell the impaired persons property. In other words, the fact that a person has been

appointed conservator by a court for someone else does not, on its own, give the power to sell that persons prop-

erty without an additional order from the court. Conservatorship deeds, once authorized, should be executed as

follows: Grantor (the person under the conservatorship) by X (his conservator) as set forth in South Carolina

Case #_______ in the ____ County Probate Court records.

It appears that some county tax offices may be sending out notices for taxes due, even though they may have been marked paid, in order to collect for taxes that were charged at 4%, but should have been charged at 6%. In other

words, some assessors are taking the position that if an owner of a primary residence is getting taxed at the 4%

rate as of January 1st, but then buys another primary residence and applies for the 4% rate on the new home, the

original property may be re-assessed to 6%, even if the original 4% tax notice has been paid. South Carolina Code

12-43-220 states that an owner can qualify for the 4% rate if he is domiciled at the address during the tax year,

and is entitled to the 4% rate for the entire year. Despite this provision, some assessors have sent notices as de-

scribed above. We understand that Amelia Ruple of the Department of Revenue has advised county assessors that

this is improper. There is also pending legislation (H. 5035) to address the penalty, which reads that an improp-

er assessment does not encumber the property or any other property of the owner, even if deemed due and owing

by the county.

Jasper County has experienced a search problem in its software that could possibly affect all search results from April 7, 2014 to mid-June 2014. A technician for the county explained that a setting was turned off during a soft-

ware update, causing gaps in search results, and not all requested records showing. Title abstractors would have

had no way of knowing that all of the results were not there. Chicago Title is not requiring any exception lan-

guage, but agents may wish to re-examine searches in Jasper County during this time period.

Interthinx released a Mortgage Fraud Risk Report for the first quarter of 2014. The report found that Property Vaulation Fraud is up 27% from last quarter. A suggested reason for the spike is a pattern where fraudsters make multiple purchases and listings in the same neighborhood,

which allows them to control that market and artificially price the properties.

Traps for the Unwary


We strive to keep a watchful eye on any changes that are happening in our industry, and aim to keep our agents up to date on the most relevant factors. Some of the most recent developments are listed below:

The CFPB has issued a statement to clarify the Ability-to-Repay rule. It will now allow lenders to recognize heirs of a deceased borrower as a borrower, without considering the heirs credit worthiness. The heirs are deemed to have the same rights the deceased borrower had. It is likely that their new ap-proach will make mortgage modifications more readily available to heirs.

Fannie Mae is implementing a portal for listing agents involved in short sales to use to contact the entity and communicate direct-ly to avoid problems from valuation disputes, servicer delays or uncooperative subordinate lien holders. The site, called HomePath for Short Sales, can also be used to obtain a recommended list price before the property goes onto the market, locate a home, search for financing, make an offer on a home, and much more. The website is: http://www.homepath.com/

Wells Fargo has announced that it will now require that both principal and interest be paid on HELOC loans, rather than interest only payments for the first 10 years. The lender has stated the product is being restructured to help consumers avoid future payment-shock and help the borrower create equity in the home. Data provided by Equifax indicates that delinquencies rise for borrowers when they are faced with increased payments when the loans reach the end of the interest only period. Interest only HELOCs will only be offered to borrowers with significant assets. Other lenders are considering similar chang-es.

The CFPB recently fined a company known as Realty South $500,000 for inadequate affiliated business disclosures. The CFPB found that the company violated RESPA because the disclosure forms used did not use capital letters, and were contained within other marketing materials in a way that distracted from the disclosure itself. The contracts used either required or strongly en-couraged the use of an affiliate title company, and the affiliated business disclosure form as required by RESPA was not used.

The Mortgage Choice Act was approved by the House of Representatives to amend the Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage pro-vision in the Dodd-Frank Act. The amendment will allow title and some escrow charges to be excluded from the 3% cap on points and fees, if paid to an affiliate of the lender (fees paid to a non-affiliated title company are already exempt).

The CFPB is looking for participants for an E-closing pilot program beginning in October, 2014. The program will test e-closing features to learn how to better enable consumer understanding, increase efficiency and eliminate errors. To find out more about becoming a partici-pant and the technology requirements, visit http://search.consumerfinance.gov/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&sc=0&query=e-closing+pilot+program&m=&affiliate=cfpb&commit=Search

On June 2, 2014, Section 29-3-330 of the 1976 South Carolina Code was amended to clarify the methods by which certain parties could cancel, dis-charge or satisfy a mortgage in the public records of South Carolina. Most importantly, the amended statute clarifies South Carolina law by allowing an attorney-in-fact under a duly recorded instrument to satisfy or release a mortgage. Further, the statute provides a model form for use when satisfy-ing or releasing mortgage liens in South Carolina. Significantly, it appears that the Lost Mortgage Form is no longer required. (see Mortgage Satisfac-tion model for reference at right)

ALTA recommends that title professionals take steps to implement ALTAs Title Insurance and Settlement Company Best Practices and conduct a self-assessment no later than September 2014. After completing the self-assessment, ALTA encourages members to use the Compliance Guide to communicate their compliance management program with their lender clients and customers as soon as possible. For more information about ALTAs Best Practices, see alta.org/bestpractices.

Industry In Sight

Mortgage Satisfaction model


This is a friendly reminder to all agents that one of the many benefits you have as a Chicago Title agent is that ECPurchasing offers great discounts. Our Company has negotiated significantly reduced prices with many vendors and our agents are able to link to our Companys buying power, allowing your office to increase profitability!

ECPurchasing provides discounts on Federal Express, UPS services as well as products from Office Depot and Staples. You can even obtain discounts on gifts from Omaha Steaks and Hickory Farms!

Discounts range from twenty percent to seventy percent depending on the product and the vendor and are available for your shop-ping enjoyment on the ECPurchasing.com website.

If you have not signed up for this tremendous benefit, contact your Agency Manager today and start saving money! Your Agency Manager can assist you with a cost analysis - an item - to - item comparison, based on actual receipts you provide. You will be amazed at the savings your office can realize from this benefit, so please take advantage!

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8883870223OnesimpleSoluontoimproveyourprofitability

Due Diligence Services

New Services available to Agents:

Due Diligence Services has partnered with Chicago Title agents to provide ALTA Surveys

in a new and exciting way. Contact your

Agency Rep for more information, and to

schedule a demo of the interactive survey

and other benefits available through DDS. This service is generally geared toward commercial property transactions.


WAKE UP - Now is the time to Tell your story

and implement ALTAS Best Practices! During a recent National Settlement Services Summit, attendees were advised that now is time for title insurance companies,

title agents and real estate attorneys to embrace the role as financial service providers, starting with implementing ALTAs Best

Practices. The message was loud and clear: Get this done now. You need to make implementation an absolute priority.

Compliance with the Best Practices can be an excellent tool for professionals in our industry to demonstrate our value in a real

estate transaction. We are responsible for managing the trust account, containing both the borrowers and the lenders funds,

we are entrusted with sensitive data, important documents, and one of the last in the transaction to help avoid mortgage fraud.

It is up to us to embrace this role and show that we play a vital role in the real estate closing and consumer protection.

Lenders will look to change the current processes to increase profitability and lower liability associated with third party service

providers. ALTA encourages its members to Tell Your Story and raise awareness regarding the good services provided to assist

buyers purchase their homes. As a part of the Tell Your Story concept, ALTA complied some of the eco-

nomic benefits that this industry provides as follows:

Collects $4.75 billion each year in income taxes

Recovers $325 million each year in unpaid child support

Produces $26 billion in goods and services each year

Pays almost $8 billion in wages each year

If you have not implemented the Best Practices, please contact your Agency Manager for assistance right

away, and make plans to attend our Best Practices webinar on September 9, 2014. Details in this issue!

In Beach First National Bank v. The Estate of Gurnham, S.C.

Supreme Court Op. No 27360 (February 26, 2014), the court

reversed the summary judgment previously granted to the

bank, and held that the banks failure to present a timely claim

in the probate court barred its right to recov-

er the deficiency judgment granted in its fore-

closure action. The facts of the case are

straightforward: the owner of the property

was Margaret Gurnham. Her son, Hover, as

Trustee of her Irrevocable Qualified Personal

Residence Trust, granted two mortgages on the property. Af-

ter Margarets death, Hover, who was also the estates personal

representative, continued to make payments on the loans, but

ceased making payments after two years, and foreclosure pro-

ceedings were begun by the first mortgage lender. The second

mortgage lender, Beach First, was named as a defendant in this

action and filed a cross-claim for foreclosure of the second

mortgage as well as a Creditors Claim against the estate.

The foreclosure sale resulted in a deficiency. Hover filed a No-

tice of Disallowance of Beach Firsts Creditors Claim as un-

timely filed. The court reasoned that there are two avenues by

which a secured creditor may seek recovery:

foreclosure proceedings or a claim in the es-

tate. However, if the creditor chooses foreclo-

sure, and the proceedings fail to yield the full

amount of the security; the creditor must also

have presented a timely claim in the Probate Court to in order

to have a right of action against the estate.

Here, Beach Firsts claim was filed more than one year after

Gurnhams death, and more than eight months after the credi-

tors notice was published for the estate, so the summary judg-

ment in favor or the bank was reversed.

Banks failure to file an estate claim barred right to recover foreclosure deficiency


Seller Financing - the new Jabberwocky! Fans of Lewis Carrolls 1871 novel Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, a sequel to Alices Adventures in Wonderland may recog-nize the reference here to his famous nonsense poem Jabberwocky. Just like the poem, the laws related to seller backed financing are puzzling at times and often equally nonsensical, but it appears that the availability of seller financing will be seriously limited.

THE CFPB: It seems very prettybut its rather hard to understand. Alice

On July 21, 2011, supervision and regulatory power under nineteen consumer protection laws were transferred to the Consumer Finan-cial Protection Bureau (CFPB ) pursuant to Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The CFPB was created by Congress to be an independent agency tasked with the regulation and offering of consumer financial products and ser-vices pursuant to the federal consumer finance laws. Of those laws transferred to the CFPB for regulation, the most significant affecting seller financing in the consumer lending context are: the SAFE Act, TILA, the Ability to Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rule, HOEPA and the Loan Originator Rule. These rules apply to residential financing, including land contracts, where the property will serve as the primary dwelling of the new purchaser. These rules do not appear to apply to seller-financed loans on raw land, non-owner occupied residential properties or commercial property. These rules collectively raise troubling issues related to title insurance. These sellers may ultimately find they are unable to foreclose. Further, loan policies issued in relation to seller-financed transaction may be subject to increasing claims, and the attorneys who represent these sellers may be subjecting themselves to claims and litigation. It is anticipated that plaintiffs firms may seek class members to pur-sue lender-sellers who fail to properly consider the ability-to-repay and state and federal loan origination rules and requirements. Therefore, closing attorneys should familiarize themselves with the appropriate state and federal laws and do all they can to protect themselves and their clients by discussing these laws in the context of the sellers other business dealings before handling a seller backed financing deal. A South Carolina attorney may wish to remind a seller-financing client of the CFPBs broad enforcement powers, and may also ask the seller to sign a document stating that he/she is in compliance (e.g., have the seller state that this is the only property that they have sell-er-financed within the last twelve (12) months). The CFPB can issue subpoenas and cease and desist orders, initiate civil actions and require refunds of moneys. The CFPB may have other various en-forcement actions. In addition to defense costs, would-be seller fi-nancers and those assisting them could face civil monetary penalties ranging from $5000 to $1 million per day.

But if you choose to chase the Jabberwock

It is important to understand the distinctions traditionally made between loan originator, creditor, and mortgage broker:

A loan originator and mortgage broker are generally defined as anyone who, for compensation, performs any activities related

to the origination of mortgage loans, including (but not limited to): taking an application or offering, arranging, or assisting a consumer in obtaining or applying for credit.

Originators / Brokers are required to be licensed under the SAFE Act (see below) and the Licensing of Mortgage Brokers Act, but generally a seller financing the sale of his own residence is not considered to be a loan originator or mortgage broker. The CFPB regulations go further than the SAFE Act had previously, but a one-time seller who finances the sale of his own home is still generally not considered a loan originator.

A creditor is defined under the Truth-in-Lending Act and Reg-ulation Z as a person who regularly extends credit (which is defined as more than 5 times in a calendar year).

Exclusions are offered for the licensing requirements for: (1) those that sell only one property in a twelve month period, and (2) sellers that sell three or fewer properties in a twelve month period. If the property is subject to an exclusion, a disclosure should be provided to the borrower that the loan is made under an exclusion to the rule, and advising that Dodd-Frank penalties are not applicable.

One Property Exclusion (12 CFR 1026.36(a)(5) EXAMPLE: A seller who sells his personal home and provides

financing for the new buyer

For the one property exclusion, a person (here defined only as a natural person, estates or trusts) must meet the following:

1 property sold in any 12 month period Property must be owned by the seller and serve as the securi-

ty for the loan Person has not constructed or acted as contractor for resi-

dence on the property within the ordinary course of business No negative amortization (balloons are permitted) Loan must feature either a fixed rate or adjustable rate only

after 5 or more years with reasonable annual and lifetime limits, with rate increases based on index such as US Treas-ury or LIBOR

Three Property Exclusion (12 CFR 1026.36(a)(4) EXAMPLE: A developer financing the sale of homes in a new development

For this exclusion, a person (including natural persons, entities, estates and trusts) must meet all of the following:

3 or fewer properties in any 12 month period Property must be owned by the seller and serve as the securi-

ty for the loan

Person has not constructed or acted as contractor for resi-dence on the property within the ordinary course of business

Seller financing must be fully amortizing (no balloon or nega-tive amortization)

Seller must make good faith determination that buyer/borrower has reasonable ability to repay

Loan must feature either a fixed rate or adjustable rate only after 5 or more years with reasonable annual and lifetime limits, with rate increases based on index such as US Treas-ury or LIBOR

Continued on page 9 ...


ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:

HOEPA Homeownership and Equity Protection Act

This 2013 Act amended the earlier Truth-in-Lending Act. Under TILA, a person making five or fewer loans per year is excluded from the Ability to Repay Rule unless the loan is deemed to be a High Cost Mortgage under HOEPA. HOEPA lowered the threshold of High Cost Mortgage by reducing the APR and points and fees triggers, and adding a prepayment penalty trig-ger. It added additional disclosures:

Loan Originator Rule expands definition of Loan Origi-

nator. Ability to Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rule - requires

good faith determination of ability to repay. SAFE Act - Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage

Licensing Act

Federal (model) SAFE Act vs. SC SAFE Act Federal The SAFE Act was implemented in 2008, and requires licensing and registration of loan originators. Under the SAFE Act, a person is con-sidered a loan originator if he habitually takes loan applications and/or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan for compensa-tion. Under this Act, sellers can avoid becoming licensed as a loan originator by simply retaining the services of a licensed originator. State The South Carolina version of the SAFE Act guidelines does not fol-lowed the model (federal) Act. The South Carolina SAFE Act allows up to five sales in 12 months under the seller finance exemption un-less HUD determined it violated federal SAFE Act. HUD's final rule, released in 2011, gave no exemption for seller fi-nancing for those who habitually seller finance. (No definition was provided by HUD for "habitual" lending). Later in 2011, the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs said that there are no ex-emptions for seller financing under South Carolinas Act. Perhaps legislation should be proposed to address the inconsistencies be-tween the state and federal versions. Issuing Title Insurance With respect to insuring private seller financing transaction or land contracts, please be aware of the following:

1. Paragraph 5 of the Exclusions From Coverage in the 2006 ALTA Loan Policy excludes coverage regarding the Invalidity or unenforceability in whole or in part of the lien of the Insured Mortgage that arises out of the transaction evidenced by the Insured Mortgage and is based upon usury or any consumer credit protection or truth-in-lending law, and no specific exception is needed.

However, while the Short Form Residential Loan Policy in-corporates by reference the terms and conditions of the AL-

TA long form policy, it gives broad, generalized coverage and uses general exceptions that may not be appropriate in this type of transaction. When insuring a private seller mortgage or other mortgage that runs to an individual, please issue the standard form (long form) of the ALTA 2006 Loan Policy and NOT an ALTA Short Form Residential Loan Policy.

2. The ALTA 2006 Owners Policy jacket, used for commercial

transactions, does not contain any such exclusion from cov-erage relative to the invalidity or enforceability of the inter-est being insured. Therefore, when insuring a Land Con-tract Vendor (seller) policy for a commercial transaction using the ALTA 2006 Owners Policy, raise the following exception.

This policy does not insure against loss or damage arising out of the invalidity or unenforceability in whole or in part of the land contract interest referred to at _______________ that arises out of the transaction evidenced by the land contract interest and is based upon usury or any consumer credit protection or truth-in-lending law. Please note that this exception is not required in a Land Contract Vendee (Contract Purchaser) policy, and is not required when issuing a residential policy using the Home-owners (Enhanced) policy jacket.

Seller financing rules are complex; involving the interplay of a num-ber of laws, both federal and state, much of which is beyond the scope of this discussion. This overview can only serve to point out the complexity of the issues. The best suggestion we can make is to advise your client to think long and hard before offering loans that do not comply with these regulations. Failure to do so could result in unenforceable loans liti-gation. Perhaps Lewis Carroll said it best:

Beware the Jabborwock, my son The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Seller Financing continued from page 8


Attorney disbarred for failure to pay off mortgage, record documents and pay title premiums The South Carolina Supreme Court announced the disbarment of an attorney in In the Matter of Amelia H. Lorenz,

S.C Supreme Court, Op. No. 27378 (April 9, 2014) for failure to record a deed and mortgage following a closing before

closing her practice and moving out of state. She did not provide the South Carolina Bar or her title company with

updated contact information, and left title insurance premiums associated with approximately 25 closings unpaid.

She likewise failed to cooperate with the ODCs investigation and was disbarred.

Disaster relief and 1031 exchanges In a 1031 exchange, once you close on the sale of your old property, you have 45 days to locate a new

property to purchase, and 180 days to complete that purchase. If these deadlines are not met, the

exchange fails, and there is no eligibility for tax deferral. However; when catastrophic events,

such as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires or floods effect a large number of people, the government

may issue a tax relief extension and extend 1031 deadlines. In these cases, a Tax Relief Notice would

be issued identifying the counties and states declared to be a disaster area, and it must state the it

provides relief for the counties and states declared to be disaster areas, and it must state that it pro-

vides relief for exchanges. FEMA disaster notices do not have any effect upon 1031 exchange dead-lines.

To find out more about 1031 exchanges or qualifying for an extension of a 1031 deadline, contact our

1031 company representative, Whitney Brennan at [email protected].

Whitney Brennan Vice President (916) 806-1468 Direct (877) 310-1031 Toll-Free (800) 913-1915 TF Fax email

Resources for Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Be preparedHurricane season officially began on June 1. Does your firm have a plan to deal with natural disasters or other disasters such as computer crashes or fires? The South Carolina Bar has some great tips just visit the Bars disaster preparedness page for resources and articles to help create a disaster plan (www.scbar.org). It will help with compliance with ALTAs Best Practices as well!

If your firm already has a plan in place, now is a great time to review and update disaster procedures. The Bars Pre-pare booklet makes it easy to dojust follow the checklists. Request a copy by e-mailing [email protected] and be sure to include your mailing address. Contact PMAP for free assistance with your law practice at [email protected].


New South Carolina Expedited Foreclosure Law for Abandoned property - signed in to Law In early June of 2014, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley signed a bill into law establishing a process to expedite the fore-

closure of mortgages on real property under certain limited circumstances.

S.C. Code section 29-3-625 has been added to the South Carolina Code of

Laws and provides that under certain circumstances and with the support of

an affidavit, a mortgage holder may bring a motion for an expedited hearing to enable it to secure a judg-ment of foreclosure and sale of the mortgaged property. The mo-

tion for an expedited hearing may be filed at or after the time the Order of Reference is filed, or any time thereafter. This means

that this new statute does not interfere in any way with Chief Justice Toals 2009 or 2011 Administrative Orders that touch on

the Home Affordable Modification Act or its Foreclosure Inter-vention process and those administrative orders remain in full

force and effect.

The purpose of this new law is to allow mortgage holders the ability to expeditiously foreclose on their collateral that has been,

by a showing of clear and convincing evidence, abandoned. South Carolina

is a judicial foreclosure state which means that all foreclosures must go

through our courts normal judicial process. As a result, the time between

a borrowers default and any judicial foreclosure sale of the property often takes much longer than in other jurisdictions where the foreclosure process is much shorter.

This new law will provide a mechanism to mortgage holders in limited circumstances where they can ask the court to foreclose

and sell these abandoned properties more quickly in an effort to reduce the chances that criminals will begin abusing the property

and to hopefully allow for the ultimate rehabilitation of the prop-erty by the judicial sale of the property to a new owner.

The purpose of this new law is to allow mortgage

holders the ability to expeditiously foreclose on their

collateral that has been abandoned.

Since last time (by Cris Garrick) Microsoft Fixes Vulnerability Bug Microsoft has issued a patch to

versions of Internet Explorer that were recently discovered to have

a flaw in their coding. The bug could be used to target financial

and defense institutions, and posed such potential threat that US and UK media issued warnings to users to rely on other browsers.

As of May 1, 2014 the program has been patched, with Microsoft going so far as to issue a patch for Microsoft XP, which they dis-

continued support for in April. Microsoft maintains that users

should continue to migrate to newer versions of Windows as XP is no longer supported, and advises that users utilize the Automatic

Update tool to ensure that versions of IE, Windows and other Microsoft programs are patched and up to date.

Net Neutrality Some of you may have heard the phrase net neu-trality bandied about on the nightly news and other talk shows,

though the phrase is somewhat vague upon first hearing. Net neu-trality refers to the current openness of the internet; the fact that

all data must be treated equally with regards to access and stream-ing, facilitating the current ease of business, communication and

entertainment that we know. The FCC is in favor of net neutrality,

having attempted to pass the Open Internet Order in 2010 stating

that content providers (Verizon, Comcast, AT&T, etc.) must treat

data from all websites equally. However, it was challenged in ap-

peals court in Verizon v. FCC in 2014. Instead, content providers

have proposed a tiered internet service which would levy tolls on

businesses with higher traffic and content; streaming media pro-

viders such as Netflix and YouTube, and popular sites such as Fa-cebook. In addition, a fast lane / slow lane approach to broad-

band internet has been proposed, although many companies large and small are crying foul with smaller companies concerned that

their customer base will receive poor access to their sites if their

pockets are not deep enough to pay higher tolls. The FCC has been forced back to the drawing board, and is now contemplating inter-

net rules which would maintain net neutrality and also accommo-

date service providers requests. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE? If businesses are forced to pay high-er costs to providers, we can be certain that those costs will trickle

down to the consumer. Also, if providers are suddenly granting

prioritized access to sites whose companies pay more, but do nothing to beef up the pipeline through which we get our data,

we are likely to see slow and interrupted service to lesser sites and applications. In addition, we could possibly see slower per-

sonal service in our homes and businesses. I encourage you to do

your own research and read up more about this potentially game changing regulation. Visit the FCCs page on Open Internet to

learn more. The FCC are taking comments from the public

through September 10th, 2014. If you are so inclined, go to FCC.gov/comments and click on Proceeding # 14-28 to add your

voice to the almost 44,000 who have done so to date.


RREVISEDEVISED Commitment and Policy Form Types Commitment and Policy Form Types a chart for your use!a chart for your use!

As all agents will be using AgentTRAX, the following chart is a handy guide to help agents choose the most commonly used jackets from the choices available in the AgentTRAX system.

COMMITMENTS:COMMITMENTS:

72C106 ALTA Commitment 2006 (Non-Residential)

72C107 ALTA Commitment Plain Language (Residential)

OWNERS POLICIES:OWNERS POLICIES:

7242040 ALTA Homeowners Policy Enhanced coverage; 20% higher premium than standard policies - Select ALTA Enhanced Homeowners form in merge documents.

This form can be used for all residential properties.

7230640 ALTA Owners Policy Vacant Land (not residential); Commercial; Churches; Shopping Centers; Select Commercial Owners Form in merge documents

(This policy may be used for residential property if the client ob-

jects to the ALTA Homeowners policy)

72005 (1991)

7241340 (2012)

U.S. Government Policy Used when the insured is a federal government entity: U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Corps of Engineers, et al.

LOAN POLICIES:LOAN POLICIES:

7241940 ALTA Expanded Coverage Residential

Loan Policy

Only used for loans on residential property; Premium is 20% higher than standard policies; incorporates ALTA Endorsements 4, 5, 6, 6.2,

8.1 & 9. It also has a special Schedule A which describes the property

address. (Not used unless specifically requested from lender.)

7211040 ALTA Construction Loan Policy This policy expires within 2 years of policy effective date. It is in-tended for builders of spec homes. The premium is $2 per $1000 with

$100 minimum premium. Cannot give reissue credit based on this

policy. (For construction to perm loans, use the regular ALTA

Loan Policy 7230740 and charge a regular premium)

7230740 ALTA Loan Policy

(Long-form)

Used for any loan; any policy endorsements must be the 2006 revised ALTA Endorsements. It also has a special Schedule A & B requiring

loan number & street address of property

7234240 (2007)

ALTA Residential Loan Policy (Short-form)

Only used for loans on residential property, not to include construc-

tion loans. Not used unless specifically requested from lender.

NOTE:NOTE: Leasehold transactions use the regular Loan and Owners policies, but have attached to them the ALTA 13 and 13.1 endorsements which define the leasehold interest and other specific conditions

and stipulations that are appropriate for leasehold transactions.


Chicago Title Insurance Company 3700 Forest Drive, Suite 201, Columbia, SC 29204

803-790-5620 Fax: 803-790-5621

Editor: Martha K. McConnell, Esq. [email protected] Assistant Editor: Dorothy R . Boudreaux [email protected]

If a member of your office staff would like to begin receiving Chicago Titles Memos and Newsletters by email, or if you would like to be removed from our distribution list, please send an email to [email protected] or [email protected]. Thank you!

Claire Manning, Vice President & State Manager 803-250-4574

Tom Dunlop, Vice President & Senior State Counsel 803-250-4570

Martha McConnell, Vice President & State Counsel 803-250-4571

Troyce Anderson, Vice President & Senior Agency Manager 803-250-4575

Patricia Paris, Vice President & Agency Manager 803-250-4576

Sasha Davis, Agency Manager 803-250-4577

Denise Seay, Agency Manager 803-250-4578

Cris Garrick, Agency IT Representative 803-250-4569

Jennifer Rubin, Vice President & State Counsel 803-250-4583

Direct lines for office staff:Direct lines for office staff:

Link to the SC Rate calculator by clicking here!

Follow us on Twitter @chicagotitlesc (http://twitter.com/#!/ChicagoTitleSC ) Find us on Facebook!

Quick look at Common Clauses - save for quick reference! Acreage Exception A1a

Bankruptcy Requirements B1a - B1g

Construction Draws Exception A2b No title update required

Easements Exception E1g

Mortgages Requirement L1h

Restrictive Covenants Exception R1a No affirmative coverage

Restrictive Covenants Exception R1d With affirmative coverage

Survey Exception S3a

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