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First American Reviews

1.4
83 reviews
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About First American

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First American specializes in title insurance and settlement services. Established in 1889, the company offers title searches, escrow services and closing support ensuring property ownership accuracy and facilitating real estate transactions. First American aims to help to protect property buyers and lenders from potential title issues.

Visit www.firstam.com/index.html
Pros
  • Quick response times from staff
  • Thorough documentation handling
Cons
  • Delays in processing transactions
  • High fees for services

First American Reviews

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    Page 3 Reviews 80 - 230

    Reviewed June 8, 2010

    We requested a payoff on May 20, 2010 good to 5/28/10 and we were told it would take 5-7 days. Today is June 8, 2010 and we just received the payoff. We tried again on 5/27/10, 6/1/10, 6/4/10, and 6/7/10 expressing the urgency of the situation. We were told on 6/1/10 we would have it in 1-2 days. It was extremely frustrating to deal with the times we were ignored completely. This resulted in having to hold the seller's funds after close of escrow for eleven (11) days. They were unable to move out of the property in a timely manner for the new buyer's (who had performed and closed) to move in. I have been in this business now for 30 years and have never had this difficulty before.

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    Reviewed Dec. 28, 2009

    I was awarded a judgment of $42k. The debtor managed to obtain a 100% loan from WaMu for $725k; he had no job and no income. When I asked the title company, they told me that the loan was secured by a Deed of Trust and the judgment was not needed to satisfy the loan. I have a separate document from the escrow company showing 7 different transactions making it look like I was paid; the final check was issued to the seller for the same amount.

    A few months later, the buyer foreclosed. This is what creates a bad economy and someone needs to be held responsible. The title company has an obligation to the lender, buyer and seller to ensure that everything is in compliance. They are not there to manipulate the judicial system so that people can benefit and commit fraud. A judgment was in place and was supposed to stop this loan from going through. Instead, they made the loan work and fed a few people's pockets and accepted the judgment creditor who was entitled to all this monies disposed to everyone involved.

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    Reviewed June 28, 2006

    My brother-in-law and I have bought a few houses for investment purposes. We formed a LLC titled Oylsto LLC. We acquired a property in Belton Mo. in Jan 2005 along with a Owners Title Policy. In March 2006 we received a special tax statement from the city for $8,098.42. This was due to a lien that had been placed on the property. A special tax assessment was placed on this property 20 years ago and the former owner failed to pay. We did our own research on the property and located the lien.

    Within the original assessment placed on record it stated "All such special tax bills so issued shall be due and payable 60 days after the date of issuance...and may be paid in installments on an annual basis for 20 years together with interest, all such tax bills to be a lien of said benefited property. We have written First American six times and correponded by phone about 20 times. The local underwriter even indicated that he thought they should pay it, but he didn't have any control over payments. Our reason to invest in a few rental houses were for the purpose of sending kids to college, but now we realize we are dealing with unethical people in this business. How can First American not honor a tile policy, for we thought that they were designed to protect home buyers.

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    First American Company Information

    Company Name:
    First American
    Website:
    www.firstam.com