WE DO NOT WIRE SELLER PROCEEDS

C.H. McLaughlin Title Company, LLC 70 Center Street, Suite 401B Portland, Maine 04101 
ph: 207-874-0500 f: 207-874-0505 -- email: info@mclaughlintitle.com

​M c L A U G H L I N   T I T L E

70 Center Street - 4th Floor - Portland ME 04101

207-874-0500

Welcome to McLaughlin Title! As title attorneys, we represent the buyer’s lender, but we often end up working very closely with the sellers and their real estate broker. We hope this information sheet helps you understand our role and the basic materials we need from you in order to complete the process and get you to the closing table.

Our paperwork
We send standard form letters to the seller(s) every time we open a purchase file. This is done before our title search is completed. You will receive a form requesting information regarding existing mortgages on the home, water and sewer services and homeowners’ associations whether or not these things apply to your particular transaction. Our title search reveals whether there are liens on your property, but it's up to you to make sure we have correct account numbers and contact information for your loan servicer. If you have a current mortgage, your signature is required on our payoff authorization form. Docusign is not accepted by many lenders. Also, it helps us tremendously to receive these forms back for the file, even when every question is answered “N/A”. At the end, we ask for your social security number because the state requires this information for the transfer tax for every transaction we close. We treat your personal information as completely confidential. 

Communication
We tell you to call with questions or concerns, and we really mean it. Occasionally, our initial information from the brokers or the lender contains minor errors in your name or the address of the property. This is an easy fix and we welcome your input. Often, your worries can be quickly abated with a phone conversation or email exchange, and that is how we prefer to do business. A little communication can go a long way.

Also, please remember that our initial contact with you is made before we conduct the title search.

Selling as an entity
If you hold title as an LLC, a corporation or a Trust, we will require you to provide us with evidence, well in advance of the closing, that you are authorized to sign. 

Divorced sellers

If you have divorced since the last time the property was transferred, there may or may not be recorded documents in the Registry detailing how the property is to be vested. If nothing has been recorded, we will need to see a copy of the divorce decree in order to avoid inadvertently contradicting a court order and creating a cloud on the title. 

State withholding
A big concern for out-of-state sellers is the 2½ % Maine state withholding at closing. We are required by state law to collect this at closing unless an exception from withholding has been granted by the State of Maine. Exceptions from this withholding are frequently granted to sellers whose basis in the property is greater than the sales price – an occurrence all-too-common in a down market. To apply for an exception, you need two forms: the REW-5 form and a draft of the transfer tax form (ME RETTD). You can print out the REW-5 form from this page. The phone number at the state for questions is 207-626-8473. We are happy to fill out a draft transfer tax form for you if you have chosen to have us prepare your deed. Otherwise, the attorney preparing your deed will be able to do that for you as well. If we are not on the paperwork that the state receives, we will not be notified as to the outcome. It is your responsibility to provide us with the exception certificate prior to closing.

Paying off your mortgage or home equity line

When you sell a property, any liens secured against it need to be discharged in the Registry of Deeds. Your existing mortgage and any second mortgage or Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC), whether or not there is a  balance, need to be paid off at closing in order to be discharged by your lender. For that reason, we will need a signed authorization from you so that we can get the correct figures for payoff from your bank or mortgage company. For now, this form has to be personally signed, not docusigned. We send this form to your real estate broker, to be forwarded to you, as soon as we open our file. Please be sure that the information you give us is correct. It's also very important for us to have this form back in a timely manner, even if the closing date seems far off. A blank copy of this form can be printed from this website; please see "Download Seller Authorization" above.

The deed

It is your responsibility as the seller to have a deed drawn up transferring the property to your buyers. You can have your attorney prepare a deed or we can do it.  Our fee for deed prep is $200 plus recording fees. If you have an outside party prepare a deed or Power of Attorney for you, we need to review those documents in advance to ensure accuracy and compliance. As the closing agent, it is our responsibility to ensure that every document is legally binding and can be recorded. 

The Closing – to attend or not attend
It has become pretty common for sellers to opt out of attending closing. We charge $150 to accomodate a separate closing for the sellers. This includes sending docs for signing early ("mailaway" closing) OR drafting a Power of Attorney. Generally with "mailaway" closings we email docs for printing, the seller(s) print and sign with a notary and FedEx them back to us overnight. This means that documents can be emailed out as late as 3 pm the day before closing. We advise sellers to make an appointment with a notary for the afternoon before the closing. Often we cannot guarantee that we can get the docs out any earlier than that because we do not send out any settlement statements until we have to go-ahead from the buyers' lender. Following the closing we will overnight a check to the address you specify. WE DO NOT WIRE SELLER PROCEEDS.

Your Proceeds

Our standard practice is to issue a check at closing, made out to the seller. If the seller is a Trust or an LLC or some other type of entity, please know that your check will be made out to that entity and not to you, personally. ​

Property Taxes

We prorate property taxes to the day between buyers and sellers at the closing. Depending on when the closing date falls compared to the municipality's due dates, you will either collect some money or owe some money at closing to make sure the taxes aren't late. Occasionally, when a closing is held very close to a tax due date, your payment hasn't posted. We do our best to check and double check with towns so that duplicate payments don't cross in the mail. If you have any questions about the taxes, do not hesitate to ask!  

Because cities and towns are only required to update ownership information every April 1, you may receive a tax bill for the property you sold. Forwarding the bill to your buyers is the expected thing to do.