Entity authority
Who actually has power to sign, under a governing document that may have been amended three times and last located in a filing cabinet. Deceased or withdrawn principals turn this into a probate question in the middle of a sale.
For commercial disposition brokers
The deal killer is usually the seller's own paperwork.
A partnership formed in 1987 with two deceased general partners. An LLC whose company agreement nobody can find. Defeasance nobody priced. These take months, and the broker who finds them in week six of escrow loses the deal.
The real problem
What kills a commercial disposition
Every item here is fixable with lead time and fatal without it.
Defeasance and yield maintenance
CMBS and life company debt does not simply pay off. Defeasance is a process with its own timeline and cost, and a seller who does not know that is going to miss the closing date the contract promised.
Estoppels and the rent roll
Tenant estoppels take as long as the least responsive tenant, and a rent roll that does not match the leases becomes a re-trade.
Rollback taxes on land headed for development
Land carrying an agricultural valuation can trigger a rollback assessment on change of use. Who pays is negotiated, the number can be substantial, and it should be known before the LOI rather than discovered in diligence.
How we offer value
How we work a disposition
The first one is the whole idea.
Pre-listing title work
Pull the commitment before you go to market, cure on your own schedule, and hand a clean exception package to every prospect.
Entity authority audit at listing, not at contract
We tell you what the buyer's title company is going to require, while there is still time to produce it.
Payoff and defeasance reality check
So the closing date in the contract is one the debt structure can actually support.
An exception package that makes the property easy to underwrite
Organized and legible, so diligence is a formality rather than a renegotiation.
In development
Pre-Listing Title Readiness Audit
A clean-to-close score for a commercial asset before it goes to market, with a ranked cure list and realistic weeks per item.
- How title is held, years owned, debt structure, tenants, ag exemption and known issues in.
- A 0-100 readiness score with every factor shown.
- A ranked cure list showing what can run in parallel and what is a long pole.
- A go-to-market timeline that accounts for defeasance, missing principals and replatting.
This one is still being built. Until it ships, our escrow team will walk the same analysis with you on a real file — ask and we will do it.
How the file runs
How a disposition file runs with us
- 1
Before listing
Commitment pulled, entity chain reviewed, payoff and defeasance timing confirmed, exceptions organized.
- 2
Cure
Curative worked on your schedule rather than against a contract deadline.
- 3
Under contract
The buyer receives a complete package on day one, which is the fastest diligence period you will ever run.
- 4
Close
Payoffs, estoppels and prorations coordinated with counsel on both sides.
Straight answers
The questions we actually get
Including the ones with answers you may not want. We would rather say it here than at the closing table.
Is a pre-listing commitment worth ordering?
On a commercial asset with an aged entity chain or unusual debt, almost always. It converts a four-month surprise into a four-month head start. We charge for it at our published rate, the same for everyone.
Will you credit the pre-listing cost if the closing comes to you?
We are deliberately conservative about anything conditioned on where a closing lands, because conditional value tied to a referral raises anti-inducement questions under Texas law. Our pricing is published and uniform.
Two of the general partners are deceased. Can this still be sold?
Usually, but the path runs through the partnership agreement and possibly a probate, and that is a months-not-weeks answer. It is precisely why this work belongs before listing.
Who pays rollback taxes?
It is a negotiated contract term. The important part is knowing the exposure before the LOI, because on development land it can be a material number.
Do you coordinate with a qualified intermediary on a 1031?
Yes, and the intermediary needs to be engaged before this closing, not after. Tell us early and we will make sure the sequencing is right.
What is set by the state, and what is not
Two different kinds of number.
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.
The other side of the deal
Every transaction has more than one of you in it.
Commercial buyer agents
A complete, legible, indexed exception package delivered with the commitment — so feasibility is spent reviewing, not chasing.
What we do for them →Commercial lenders
Endorsement feasibility answered before your credit committee meets, and construction lien priority handled by people who understand inception of work.
What we do for them →Attorneys
Underwriter requirements arrive as requirements, with the document that satisfies each one. We do not advise your client and we do not take your client.
What we do for them →Before you go to market
Find the problem while you still have time.
Send the property and how title is held. We will tell you what a buyer's lender is going to require and what it will take to be ready.