Settlement Resources
Whether as a buyer or seller, at some point you will need the services of a real estate settlement company or a title company. Friendship Title is both. We can both coordinate and conduct the closing of a sale of real property and we can issue the title insurance policies that are a part of the transaction. In the State of Maryland, the buyer has the right to pick the settlement/title company. In DC it is not quite the same, and although many sellers do concur with the buyer's choice for the title company, they have a right to pick their own.
In a typical transaction, Friendship Title receives a copy of the contract from the realtor or the buyer (if there is no realtor involved) and the process is begun. A title search is ordered for the property for the purposes of determining whether or not the title is good and marketable. A survey is ordered on all properties but condominiums. The buyer has a choice between a house location drawing and a boundary survey. A boundary survey identifies property lines and can be used to build a fence or an addition to the house.