EMPIRE TITLE SVC INC

In a word, it was terrible. We placed our house under contract on January 28, 2013, with a closing date set for March 28, 2013. The buyers received mortgage approval on March 14, and we signed a contract and moved into our new home on March 26. We spent the better part of 2 weeks unsuccessfully trying to contact Empire Title to find out what documents and information they would need for the closing. We left several detailed messages, but they NEVER returned our calls. Finally, Alma from Empire Title called us on March 27 to inform us that she needed us to secure the payoff amounts on the mortgages on the house. This was the day before the closing! We gave her the name of the mortgage company and the loan numbers, but she told us that she was unable to find out what the payoff amount would be, and that we would need to do that. Given the fact that we weren't preparing the closing documents, we felt that this was Empire's job. We contacted the lender and faxed our approval for the lender to provide this information to Empire Title, which it did. We went to Empire Title in person on the 28th so that we could sign the seller's documents. We could not sign the HUD statement because none of the pertinent figures was correct, but signed a limited power of attorney to permit the attorney for Empire Title to sign the HUD on our behalf once we gave approval to the final figures. Needless to say, the closing did not take place on March 28. March 28 was a Thursday, and March 29 was Good Friday, for which Empire Title was closed. So the closing didn't occur on March 29, although we were assured that everything was okay and that everything would be finalized on Monday, April 1. Alma assured us that she would work on it beginning first thing Monday morning, and that we should receive the updated HUD statement by late morning. We heard nothing from Alma Monday morning, and our calls, texts, and e-mails to her went unanswered. In desperation we contacted one of the attorneys from Empire Title (who we were able to reach through our realtor). Once again there were issues with the HUD statement that needed to be corrected on our side, although we were told that the buyer's lender had already approved the HUD from their side. The attorney was able to get everything resolved, and by Monday evening we had everything set for the money transfer to be made. Or so we thought... On Tuesday we heard nothing, so again we tried calling Empire. As seems to be standard operating procedures, our calls were never returned unless or until we were able to get hold of the attorney through our realtor. When we finally got through to Alma, she told us that the HUD statement was still awaiting approval from the buyer's lender. We noted that we had been told that the lender had already signed off on the HUD, as had we, and asked what was the holdup. We were assured that everything was in order, that the wire transfer would be made at 8:30 am the following day, that we would receive confirmation as soon as it was made, and that the money would be in our account by 10:30 Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning arrived, and we heard nothing at 8:30. We heard nothing at 9:00. Indeed, we heard nothing at all until after 11:00 when I called Empire Title. When I asked to speak to Alma I was told that she was on a teleconference and unavailable. I stated that the closing had been delayed already by nearly a week, through no fault of either the buyer or us, and that this failure on the part of the title company might q**** the whole transaction. I insisted on speaking to anybody who knew what was going on with our wire transfer, and was transferred to Alma. When I asked her what was going on she said that she had good news, that the buyer's financing had been approved. At this point I blew my stack. I responded that the financing had been approved as of March 14, that it was now April 3 and that we had been promised a wire transfer as of 8:30 that morning. I told Alma that I was shocked by the lack of professionalism throughout the process, that I was tired of excuses and phony promises, and that unless our money was wired to us within the next couple of hours I would file a lawsuit against Empire Title. The money was wired within 20 minutes. With the exception of the one attorney with whom we dealt (who was excellent), I have never seen such incompetence in the provision of professional services. I am a practicing attorney and have handled real estate transactions and closings, albeit many years ago, so I think I know what I am talking about. I would never recommend using Empire Title under any circumstances. By the way, their fee was at the very top of the standard rates (actually about $150 above) for real estate closings, and we were given no discount or cut despite our terrible experience.