CHICAGO TITLE COMPANY

Chicago Title Company has an "approved list of notaries" and not surprising all the names on their approved list are related companies that charge a fee and their fees usually run about $50 . I could have gotten this doc notorized and in the mail by now, but I'm still waiting to hear from someone at Chicago. Apparently time is not of the essence, fees are of the essence with Chicago Title.

I believe that Chicago Title Company took advantage of our ignorance, knew we trusted them to clear the title and trusted them to make sure we would know what we were buying, but in looking back at paperwork now, I see that two of the pages that we signed were documents relieving Chicago Title Company from responsibility of advising us and from responsibility of what documents and agreements may have been being made between the buyers and sellers. We were so naive and trusting. If we had known then what we know now, we would not have bought this property. We feel duped and feel that the title company should have informed us and protected us from the problems we are experiencing now - before it was too late and we were being held responsible for laws/codes that the previous owner broke involving this property. We signed waivers, so I believe that Chicago Title is in fact legal in how they handled this; but none-the-less unethical, sneaky, and ruthless to people like us who are unknowing about real estate law and potential pitfalls. If title companies are not required to protect their clients from what we are experiencing now, the reality is that everyone who buys real estate is actually required to be a real estate expert. The title company cannot be trusted to do for you what you have not learned to do for yourself. That is what businesses like Chicago Title Company force on our society. We have learned that a title company is not actually required to make sure that the title is clear of encumbrances or problems. That was what we thought a title company was before this experience. We have learned that as long as there are pages signed within the hundreds of pages a buyer signs when purchasing a property, pages that waive and relieve the title company of all responsibility, then the title company is not required to protect or inform the buyer from anything and does absolutely nothing that the buyer couldn't have done themselves without using a title company at all; or so it seems. We certainly can't figure out what this title company did for us. Nothing so far as we can tell.

They did a good job. They were very efficient.

TITLE COMPANY PRICES ARE ABOUT THE SAME. IT IS REALLY THE QUALITY OF THE SERVICE ONE RECEIVES THAT DETERMINES WHICH TITLE COMPANY WILL BE USED. PATTY ROACH IS MOST HELPFUL AND I CAN DEPEND ON HER.