House Hunting - 2

Settlement as the word inaccurately suggests is actually meant to be quite unsettling.

There's the Title Company which does the legwork leading up to the actual process of sitting across the table and exchanging checks for property.

This "well known" title company gave us a competitive quote for title services, but bounced back and gave us a 10,000V shock on the day of settlement by changing their quote. I tried to protest but to no avail, spoke to our Real estate agent, again no results, finally gave up and walked into the settlement room quite glum, quietly cursing and feeling helpless.

The settlement went without a hitch and yes I remember blankly staring at the title officer while she went on explaining details of the deal. After we initialed 20,000 pages ( I can't put a number on the number of pages) and signed another 10,000; checks as in money changed hands, while we got the property papers. Once the show was over everybody felt relaxed and started making jokes (I continued cursing quietly). In such a state of apparent goodwill the title officer mentioned in passing that she has this medical condition where her mind just goes blank and she doesn't remember anything. My eyes popped, my mind however continued to curse with renewed vigor.

Apart for the minor heart burn listed above, the seller and mortgage agent turned out to be true gems. For rest of the people involved in this deal, I say - in the future - Thanks but no thanks!

To all those going through this, I say this - no matter how prepared you are, get plenty of practice in getting shocked, you can either do this by connecting yourself to an electrical socket or deal with a Title company. I recommend the first option.