FIRPTA withholding, exchange sequencing and rollback exposure all resolve at the closing table. A title company that understands what it is being asked to do is worth more here than almost anywhere else.
Everything below describes title practice and underwriter requirements. None of it is legal advice, and we are not your client's lawyer.
When the seller is a foreign person, the buyer is the withholding agent and the obligation is calculated on the amount realized. Exemptions, reduced-rate certificates and the associated forms all have to be handled at or around closing, and a withholding certificate application has its own timing.
The identification and completion periods are unforgiving, and the qualified intermediary must be in place before the relinquished closing. Reverse and improvement structures add an exchange accommodation titleholder, which changes who is actually conveying.
Which is the first question out-of-state parties ask, and it removes a layer that exists in other states. Federal obligations still apply in full.
Land carrying an agricultural or wildlife valuation can trigger a rollback assessment on change of use. On development land the number can be substantial, and who pays it is a negotiated term.
A federal tax lien junior to a foreclosed deed of trust carries a statutory redemption period after a nonjudicial sale, which affects insurability during that window. Discharge and subordination each have their own process and timeline.
The appraisal cap that limited a long-time owner's taxable value does not carry over to a new owner. Buyers who budget from the seller's tax bill get a large and entirely predictable surprise in year two.
WG Title is a title and escrow company, not a law firm. WG Law is a separate, independently operated company. We do not advise your client and we do not take your client.
We will handle the closing mechanics and remittance where the parties direct it, and we will raise the question early. The determination of status and the substantive tax positions remain yours and your client's.
Yes, with the accommodation titleholder in place and the documents in hand ahead of time. These fail on sequencing, not on concept.
The tax certificates and appraisal district records show the valuation history. We pull those, and it is worth doing during diligence rather than after the price is set.
Then the redemption period matters to insurability. Tell us the sale date and we will confirm what our underwriter requires and when.
Identical at every Texas title company: the basic title insurance premium and the promulgated endorsement charges. These are set by the Texas Department of Insurance. No company can discount them, and any company implying it can is describing something that is not legally possible.
Set by each company: the escrow or settlement fee, and the incidental charges around it. These are not promulgated, they do vary, and they are the fair thing to compare.
We would rather tell you which is which than let you assume we are cheaper on something nobody can be cheaper on.
Muniment of title, an affidavit of heirship and a full independent administration produce very different title positions, and the underwriter treats them very differently. Tell us the path early and we will tell you what will be required to close on it.
What that requires →A commitment without the instruments it references is not reviewable. The most useful thing a title company does for real estate counsel is deliver a complete, legible exception package promptly and then answer questions about it.
What that requires →This is the sub-practice where title problems are created quietly and discovered years later — at a refinance or a sale, when the fix is far more expensive than it would have been during the divorce.
What that requires →The stay following an order approving a sale is the most common reason a bankruptcy closing misses its date — not because anyone did anything wrong, but because the calendar was set as though the order were immediately effective.
What that requires →Send the matter type and where it stands. We will tell you what our underwriter will want before you order a commitment.
