Why Us?

Greetings from The Showcase Title Company of the Ohio Valley

Serving the real estate closing, escrow and title insurance needs of the Ohio Valley and the Tri-State area.

Why Us?

Unlike most other title companies, our day-to-day operations are supervised and managed by an attorney, Daniel Balgo, Esq., President. Most other title companies are managed and operated by non-attorneys and have zero attorney supervision or management. Some law firms that handle residential real estate closings generally assign the work to a paralegal, secretary, or law clerk because residential closings are considered merely an ancillary revenue stream to the firm’s “real legal work.” It would appear that the only time the attorney “shows up” is on the final closing statement in the form of “attorney fees.” Attorney Daniel Balgo works “hands- on” to assure that your transaction is done correctly. This “hands-on” supervision by an attorney with 20 years of legal experience is why Showcase Title Agency stands
above the rest.

What kind of transactions do we handle?

From vacant land sales to the most complicated commercial real estate transactions or multi-family assets, we’ve done just about every type of deal. We handle the purchase and sale of residential homes (whether it be a personal residence or a second home,) investment property, oceanfront condominiums and mobile homes.
We also handle residential mortgage refinance, owner financing, private financing, REO / bank owned, foreclosure, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, short sales, satisfaction mortgage, modification of mortgage, trustee / living trust, estate sales and for sale by owner. We have done it all!

What do we do?

• We make sure that everyone abides by the rules, which in our case is a combination of your contract, the law, and if you are obtaining mortgage financing, we must also meet your lender’s requirements. We coordinate all the unique circumstances of your transaction.
• We handle most of the critical aspects of a real estate transaction, including:
  ­­Escrow of earnest money deposit, also known as good faith deposit funds, from the time of the initial contract execution through closing.
• Preparation and review of the title search, title commitment and necessary closing documents. These include the closing statement, warranty deed, closing affidavits and the final title insurance policies (owner’s policy and lender’s policy, aka mortgagee’s policy), as well as the required or desired endorsements.
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• Execution and witness of the closing documents by our in-house notary team.
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• If you are unable to attend the closing at our offices in the St. Clairsville, Ohio or Wheeling, West Virginia area, we handle coordination of the logistics of a remote or “mail away” closing. You will need a local notary, and we can help you find one that is familiar with closing documents.
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• Perhaps as important as anything we do (and definitely most important to you), we keep track of your money and make sure it is disbursed properly. The earnest money funds collected at the onset of your transaction, as well as all remaining funds, are disbursed by us upon closing.
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• We make sure the seller gets legitimate funds from the buyer. We make sure the buyer gets clear title in exchange for pure funds. There’s no rubber check to the seller. A clean and marketable title policy is delivered to both the buyer and buyer’s lender.

How do we protect the buyer?

If you’re a buyer, we protect you through an owner’s title insurance policy. This covers you against rival claims of third parties arising from prior owners, holders of mortgages given by the seller or prior owners, judgments and liens against the seller or prior owners, possible unknown heirs and devisees of deceased prior owners and the beneficiaries of the estate of the deceased prior owners.
We ensure that all back taxes, homeowners’ association (HOA) dues / condominium dues, municipal (city and county) liens for water utilities, code enforcement, and nuisance – all of which are potential hazards to your ownership in the property (and to your wallet) in the absence of a title insurance policy and professionally coordinated closing. We clear all of these items as needed, as merited by the the unique circumstances of your transaction, so that the buyer walks into the property with a clean slate.

How do we protect the seller?

We make sure that you receive full consideration to the extent you are due under your contract with the buyer. We make sure the buyer and his/her lender pay with pure funds, so that when you sign over the deed to your home, you can rest assured that you will receive pure funds. The deed will not be recorded in the public records until you are paid in pure funds, your mortgage is paid off, and anyone else due funds at closing is paid so that when you leave the closing table, you have no further obligations arising from your ownership of the property.
We require certified available funds at closing. Thus, we are able to expeditiously disburse your sale proceeds to you, your mortgage holder, and any others as shown on the closing statement (HUD­1), and there is no need to await clearance of the buyer’s funds.

We can wire proceeds of sale to any bank account of your choosing, to your mortgage lender and/or, if needed, to the other title company handling your purchase. Whatever your unique situation requires, we get it done.
You remain the owner of your property until legal title passes. This happens only after the last document is signed, and all the funds are accounted for and ready to be disbursed to the seller’s account.

Some of the other things we do include:
­­Collect all applicable State of Ohio transfer taxes and recording fees and deliver the documents to the Clerk of the Court. This ensures that they are made part of the county’s public land records and updated on the tax rolls by the Belmont County Property Appraiser’s Office.
­­Deliver copies of the executed deed and any transfer fees due to any HOA and/or condominium associations so that they can update the association records.
­­Report to the IRS (or not), as the law requires, under the specific circumstances of your transaction.
­­Prepare all other necessary closing documents. These include the warranty deed, closing affidavits, the HUD­1 closing statement, any corrective deed, specific durable power of Attorney, or other corrective work that may need to be done on the chain of title to the subject property.
­­Review (and, when necessary and appropriate, order and procure) a boundary survey of the property.
­­Maintain a digital copy of all of your closing documents that you can access. We can also provide you with a copy of these documents at any time henceforth. As a former client, you are entitled to a digital copy of your documents from our archives, and we can usually provide that within 2 business days of request. This service is offered at no additional charge to you.