Sunshine Ali,

Best of luck with your investment. Escrow companies have notaries on staff as noted below. So technically, there isn't a need for a notary to be hired by you. Although in CA an attorney is not necessary, it is within your rights to hire one to review all of your closing documents. If you are uncertain or unclear about the real estate transfer process here in the states, it may be a good investment to hire a real estate attorney to go through everything with you. Most attorney's charge by the hour and the education and piece of mind of a contract review session may very well be worth it.

Receipts are typically provided by the escrow company whenever they receive funds. Perhaps in your situation, there was an oversight. I would simply ask for a receipt as you are certainly entitled to one.

It is normal for the escrow company to ask for the remaining funds. They cannot record and transfer documents until the funds necessary to meet the financial obligations of the transaction are in the escow account.

For the most part escrow companies in California are reputable. Escrow companies are licensed by the Commissioner of Corporations. I am pasting the California Commissioner of Corporations website below. You can enter in the name of the escrow company you are using to see if there has been any disciplinary action brought against the company. You should also review some of the other links as the site provides lots of helpful information.

http://www.corp.ca.gov/FSD/banned/default.asp

Sincerely,
April Tavares, GRI, ASP
Realtor, DRE License #01742179

Hi Ali

The title company has a notory on sit that when you sign the documents they notorice it right there. Ask around to an Real estate agent to see if the title company your using is good or not. That is our job.

Most escrow companies are reputable. The process of purchasing varies by state; I'm familiar with Virginia, not California. However, in many states it's true there's no need for a lawyer (there's often a lawyer associated with an escrow company). However, that doesn't mean you can't (or shouldn't) hire a lawyer to represent your interests. I'd recommend that you do.

As for there not being a need for a notary, that sounds odd but might technically be true. A lot of papers that are signed at closing deal with the mortgage, and the lender wants notarized signatures. However, many localities also want notarized signatures on documents dealing with the transfer of the deed.

I would definitely recommend that you hire a lawyer (one not associated with the escrow company) to represent your interests.

Hope that helps.