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Re: Need for escrow (by Beck):

Old Republic is a company who processes closings primarily for tradditional home and commercial property. They of course will process closings for timeshares. They use the same process for either type of sale. That does not mean timeshare closing companies do.

I think what JayJay is saying is that a lot of "timeshare closing companies" use a much simpler process than traditional home title and escrow companies, and the county as well as the property management allow that, even in Hawaii.

For example,

"Requests a preliminary report " - This is a preliminary title report and title companies pretty much always get this correct. Timeshare closing companies use an estoppel to request info from the timeshare company and numerous times they have processed a deed incorrectly because they did not verify ownership correctly.

"Receives bills from termite, roof, appliance inspection and home warranty companies " - Doesn't happen for timeshare closings

"Prorates taxes, interest, insurance and rents according to instructions " - On numerous occasions I find out the timeshare closing company allowed ownership to transfer where my first use is "next year" even though closing docs say "this year" and I paid the current year maintenance. That's a mess to get fixed. They also fail to ensure the current fees are paid before sending funds to the seller - just yesterday a DRI letter arrived stating the 2009 maint/tax are due but the closing company said 2009 was already paid for.

karik27, I agree closing companies have a responsibility to the buyer and seller. But in reality the seller owned closing company tends to represent the seller. And while errors are usually corrected, timeshare closing companies make a lot more errors than home title and escrow companies.