Kerry McCall, Escrow Officer with Chicago Title Inland Empire, received an order for the sale of a vacant lot for $65,000. Upon receipt of the order, Kerry pulled the owner’s address where the tax bill is mailed and sent a notice of pending real estate transaction overnight to confirm the owner was selling the property.
As soon as the order was opened, the listing agent contacted Kerry to let her know the seller was currently in Texas but would sign the deed at an attorney’s office. The deed was prepared and emailed to the seller. The deed was executed and returned to Kerry via overnight delivery. Included with the deed was a completed questionnaire from the notary.
Kerry called the number provided on the questionnaire to obtain information about the law firm that employed the notary. The person who answered the call indicated they did not work for a law firm and the conversation with him was very odd, so Kerry asked her manager, Jennifer Young, to review the file with her.
Together, Jennifer and Kerry determined the deed had to be re-executed with a notary selected and approved by Chicago Title. Kerry reached out to the seller to notify him and arrange for the notary to meet with him. Kerry also notified the listing agent.
Jennifer attempted to locate the notary who notarized the deed independently (not using the phone number provided on the notary questionnaire). She searched for him online and found his contact information. She called and left him a message.
The notary immediately returned her call and verified he is a commissioned notary and the seal number from his notary stamp matched, but the seller never appeared in front of him and he did not notarize the deed. He indicated this was not the first inquiry he received, so he was going to contact his secretary of state next...
