ZILLOW CLOSING SERVICES LLC_TEXAS
COPPELL TX
The ABSOLUTE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF HAVING TO DO BUSINESS. If I could rate them "negative 5-star, I absolutely would do so.
1. They rope you in by telling you that you can save $2000 on closing, if you use their company to perform the Title work. That in itself is false, because it ends up only being a percentage of the total amount of the property you are purchasing. My HUGE discount was $900.
2. Don't bother calling the number listed above - which is the phone number for my Sr. Escrow Officer, Kelli Jackson - because you will never get a return phone call. Between my RE Agent & myself & the LENDER, we left over 40 voicemail messages between her & her Escrow Assistant Hannah Fanning, which were never returned. The same goes for emails.
3. Unlike REAL Title Companies that are able to work within a Revocable Trust (which was fine with the Lender as well), apparently that was an entirely new process for Zillow Closing, because after the contract was signed between me & the lender, Academy Mortgage Corp, it all needed to be revised, because of Zillow Closing Services (ZCS) inability to understand Trust documents. BTW, the closing company I used prior to this transaction (North American Title) had NO trouble closing in the name of the Trust, so I know it is possible.
4. After refusing to work within the parameters of the Trust, then they wanted a copy of my entire Trust. My Trust is 3" thick and I finally had to get my lawyer involved to explain that by law they could only have documentation in the section pertaining to real estate, but they did not have the right to see my Living Trust Agreement (other than what was needed to put the Deed into the name of the Trust), Pour-Over Will, Funding Instructions, Power of Attorney, a list of all my assets (which includes jewelry & artwork, which is hardly easily converted into cash), Health Care Directives, Memorial Instructions, etc. The lawyer left two voicemails - again, never returned - and finally sent an email with the attachments - which, of course, was never acknowledged.
5. By far, the single most EGREGIOUS error on their part happened two days before closing. Suddenly THEY realized that they had forgotten to order the Survey. Never mind that I paid for it the first week we started this process, somehow they seemed to have forgotten it was a necessary document to close. INCOMPETENTS! They had to push the closing out 7-days further out to correct their mistake, without even an apology or monetary compensation for their error (I certainly would have been charged if I was the one to hold up closing). I had to make calls to the insurance company, the home warranty company and the tenants I had lined up to rent the place, causing me to sacrifice income, due to their ineptitude.
6. It's now six days after closing, and I am still waiting on the combination to get in the front door, which was supposed to be provided at closing. More incompetence.
In all fairness I will acknowledge the things they did well............ They were very good at letting the Lender know when they needed extra documentation, even if unreasonable. This was an investment property which I could EASILY have paid cash for (which the Lender had already approved in order for me to qualify in the first place), but I wanted an income tax deduction.........OK, sarcasm.
And they were great in making sure I could wire funds to their Escrow account........again, sarcasm.
If you want to avoid a great deal of frustration and you would like to deal with a competent Title Co., in my opinion, DO NOT use Zillow Closing Services LLC. Use companies that actually know how to close a loan, give quality customer service, know how to return phone calls & emails, or just about anything a successful business does well: in that case use Chicago Title, North American Title or just about any other Title Co. in the USA.