SUNBELT TITLE AGENCY

We had signed a contract to sell our house and were waiting for the lender and/or closing agent to ready all the forms. As the closing date moved out a few times, we contacted the Sunbelt Title to find out when we could plan to close. The agent told us she was ready and that the problem lay with the lender. She suggested we contact the lender. Since we were the sellers, it seemed inappropriate. Finally a last minute time was set and both of us (buyer and seller) scurried to the title company office to execute the sale. Since it was late on Friday, we were told our money would be wired Monday morning ? something called a "dry" closing. We were acceptable to that arrangement. When our money did not show up in our account by noon we called the agent who informed us that she had not wired the money yet because there was an error in the HUD. The error had to do with a shortage on the buyer's side ? our money was the same. Nevertheless, she required us to sign corrected documents which we did via e-mail. Then we waited. And waited. Finally, we called again, and the agent said she was waiting for the lender to contact the buyer. They had to sign the documents and wire the shortage to her before she would release our money. By noon on Tuesday we still did not have our money. Our realtor returned our frantic call and was finally able to stir the pot. He appeared extremely upset that this was even happening. By Tuesday afternoon, we had received our money. An apology came later from the Title company agent (a dramatic change from the flippant attitude we had experienced earlier) requesting we say good things about our realtor and the Title company and blame the lender for the problem. The amount of money is significant (over $200,000). We understand that mistakes happen, but there are certainly better ways to handle them than this Agency did.