CW Title

As a subsidiary of Windemere, this company gets all the business from Windemere agents. For me it was the fourth title company I used and the worst. Senior title agent Kim Steward lacks basic math and communication skills. The check had a different amount compared to settlement at signing and no one acknowledged or explained the error.

They are thoroughly confused as to who needs to be reported for federal income tax purposes — the wording of the form is wrong. They reported me, even though I do not qualify for income tax purposes on the sale of my primary house
They took information from utilities and other companies 20 days before the actual closing date. So all the numbers on the escrow settlement obviously were wrong. Then it took them 7 weeks to mail the refund to me. Ask your agent for any other company and check reviews first.

I worked with Kim Steward on a few closings and have to say she was as professional as they come. We ran into some serious snags on the seller’s end, and Kim did everything in her power to keep the deal afloat. Very knowledgeable, very efficient and her follow through was quite good. I would certainly use CW Title again.

Shoddy work on previous loan caused serious consequences on my subsequent transaction.

Functionally, 95% of title places seem to just be completely incompetent, so I can’t really call it that CW is much worse than most others but I want it to be clear that they are like the others.
Communication was terrible which I don’t care about if things actually go through Ok. As closing approached they sent a document to my email saying that the sellers lender needed signed immediately. The attached document was for a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT transaction! Luckily for CW title, the document didn’t have a bunch of personal or financial information about the other people but that was just luck on their part.
The transaction closed and of course now there is another issue. They held back 200 $, which is on the HUD and was stated to be for the final water bill. We had not lived in the house for 3 – 4 months, and so we knew what the water bill would be, about 137 $. Soon they sent an updated HUD statement and a check for 5 $ saying the bill was actually 194 $.
I presumed that it must be right (stupid move!) and maybe there was a shutoff fee or transfer fee or something.
Then I GOT THE FINAL BILL for 137 $!
I called immediately and they asked for me to scan and send the bill and other info, and they have not responded at all.

**WARNING** DO NOT USE THEM
1. BAD customer service: they do not answer their calls and even if you leave a VM, they will not return your call.
2. Incompetence: sent the Opening Packet to the WRONG address and waited 1 week before reaching out to see why they haven’t received the form back. Sent the HUD 2 days before closing. Recorded title BEFORE wiring the funds.
Bottom line: CW Title JUST DOESN’T CARE ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE
Hands down the worst title company in the NW. I’ve used Chicago Title in the past and had an excellent experience.

Sadly, I had a contract on a house fall through recently. CW Title has taken almost two weeks and still has not returned my earnest money deposit. That money may be a small amount to them, but it’s a major investment for me, and their delay has caused me to be unable to execute a contract on another property because all my funds are still held up.
The proof of contract rescission and every other piece of information they have requested has been provided. They simply just can’t or won’t return my money. I thought it was poor form originally for them to demand the earnest money funds be wired in rather than accepting a certified check. It’s even worse business to then refuse to wire the funds BACK, insist on cutting a check, but then refusing to actually cut and mail the check!
Sadly, buyers have very little say in the choice of a title company these days. We’re wholly at the mercy of sellers, or really sellers’ agents who have strong referral incentives to certain unethical, poorly run title companies. For any sellers out there though who believe in smooth real estate transactions, I encourage you to push back and demand a different company. And for any other buyers out there who have their funds held hostage, don’t be scared to contact the consumer protection division of the Attorney General’s office. I know I won’t be.

I don’t understand the negative reviews. I had a really positive experience with CW. I just purchased my first home, and we used CW in Lynnwood as the title company. Every experience I had with them was friendly and professional. They explained processes to me, and answered all my questions.
When I went in to sign my paperwork they were friendly, and gave me plenty of time to read over the documents. They let me go through it at my own pace. When all was said and done the signing process was painless and professional, while remaining pleasant and not at all overwhelming. Maybe the Bellevue office is different, but I had a pleasant experience.

What an absolute horrible experience in selling our house! The buyers agent insisted on using this company, I should have gone with my gut feeling. They are dishonest, disorganized and very rude. Stay clear from CW Title… we will never use them again

We just bought our first house and had to work with CW Title/​Escrow. They were very slow at looking at our documents and working with them delayed the entire process. Worse was that they messed up their calculations of the HUD and I had to leave work in the middle of the day to write them a check for $ 0.96… I then had to e-​mail them a copy of it and meet up with their messenger to hand it to them.
My Timeline:
Friday — My mortgage broker sends documents over
Tuesday — They just now look at them, say that one document is outdated and needs an updated form
Thursday (noon) — Updated doc sent to CW Title, they call me to say they got it. I tell them I can come now to sign, they aren’t ready.
Thursday (5pm) — They have me come in to sign
Friday Night — They send the documents to the lender
Monday — They tell me they messed up by $ 0.96 and need me to write a check
Monday (4:58pm) — They finally close this deal
If they were ready to sign the documents on Thursday before 5, we could of closed on Friday.

Cyndi was so awesome. She stayed on top of things and remained truthful at all times. She’s provided a quick response to all my e-​mails and phone calls. My spouse and I walked out of those doors feeling relieved after a very stressful time with our lender. Cyndi stayed on top of our lender to make sure they were providing her with everything they needed to help us close. When it came time to sign papers there were plenty of time slots to fit our schedule.
Our realtor even made it appoint to say «WOW, I’ve never worked with this company but they were so great and I have nothing but great things to say about them».
Not sure what all the bad reviews are about but this was one of the most positive experiences of our firt time home buying experience.

I purchased a short sale recently and the lender chose CW Title as the Title Company. I normally don’t write negative reviews, but the service I received was some of the worst I’ve ever had. I have never dealt with such incompetent people, EVER, in a business transaction. As is typical, lots of finger pointing and no ownership of things going wrong.
I don’t know if they treat their customers this way, or if this was simply because we were brought to them by a bank, but either way, this place is swimming with incompetence. I would recommend finding another title company to work with if you want your transaction to go even remotely smooth.

I met with Teresa & Nicole Account Managers at Commonwealth Land Title. I found them to be professional and knowledgeable. They overwhelmed me with property information they can provide, they have a two hour turn around after I submit a request. I walked away from our meeting satisfied that all my questions were answered. Teresa & Nicole are pleasant people that strive to the available and give great service to their customers.

I don’t know what happened to these other two people but Commonwealth was great to me. I have used Commonwealth/​Trans National on two occasions. Once to close my home in Kent, WA and now one in Auburn, WA. They were and are very professional, courteous, patient, friendly and informative.

Won’t specifically name the Title Agent but WOW! I’ve never, as a consumer (someone who is PAYING her to do her job) been spoken to like she spoke to me. She has mislead (at the best) and lied through the process. Told me to sign without seeing a final HUD and that I was supposed to trust them and have faith that they weren’t lying to me. When I refused, her response was, «Well, then I guess you don’t get your house!» (meaning closing on the day we were supposed to). She further implied that she’d drag out the process longer if I didn’t bend to her demands. We were, by both the title agent and notery/​signing assistant, given false information about timelines required for closing and when pressed, they told the truth begrudgingly.
I have no idea who runs this place but they ought to be ashamed of how they treat people who are paying them for a service. I’m STILL waiting to close on my property because of her lies.

Really disappointed with the service, here. The escrow closers were rude, and didn’t follow through. I’m beyond disappointed and will NOT be using them in the future. I would never treat clients the way these employees have chosen to treat them. Their follow-​through, communication, and level of professionalism was beyond disappointing.