Our Naples office is at 405 5th Avenue South, Second Floor, in the middle of downtown. From there we handle residential and commercial real estate closings throughout Collier County, for buyers, sellers, realtors, lenders and builders.
Closings We Handle From the Naples Office
- Residential purchase and sale closings
- Commercial closings
- Title searches, title examination and title insurance
- Escrow and settlement services
- New construction closings
- Lender closing services
An In-House Real Estate Attorney, Not a Referral
Most title companies hit the same wall. A title search turns up a lien, an old mortgage that was never satisfied, a boundary problem, an estate that was never properly closed, and the file goes out to an attorney somewhere else. Your closing then waits on someone who has no particular reason to hurry.
Esquire Land Title has a real estate attorney in the firm. Title defects get looked at the day they surface, by someone who is already on the file. Our principal partner is a licensed Florida attorney who is also a licensed general contractor and has built homes in Southwest Florida, which is useful more often than you would expect on new construction and permitting questions.
What Happens Between Contract and Closing
Most buyers and sellers only see the closing table. Here is what the title company is doing in the weeks before it.
- Escrow. The deposit comes in and is held in a trust account until closing.
- Title search and examination. We pull the chain of title and check for mortgages, liens, judgments, easements, unpaid taxes and anything else recorded against the property.
- Title commitment. You get a document listing what the policy will cover and the exceptions that have to be cleared first.
- Clearing exceptions. Old mortgages that were paid but never released, contractor liens, code enforcement liens, probate that was never completed, a spouse who never signed off. This is the part that stalls closings, and it is the reason having an attorney in the firm matters.
- Estoppel letters. On condos and HOA properties, and Naples has a great many, the association has to state what is owed. These take time and have to be requested early.
- Payoffs and prorations. Mortgage payoff figures, property tax prorations, association dues.
- Closing and funding. Documents are signed, funds are disbursed, the deed and mortgage are recorded with the Collier County Clerk.
- Policy issued. The owner’s policy is issued after recording.
A clean file moves quickly. A file with a title defect moves at the speed of whoever is fixing it, which is exactly why we do not send that work outside the firm.
Who Pays for Title Insurance in Collier County
This trips up people moving within Florida, because the answer changes at the county line. Nothing in the Florida Statutes says who has to pay for the owner’s title policy. It is negotiable in the contract. But when the contract is silent, local custom decides, and custom is not the same across our service area.
- Collier County (Naples): the buyer customarily pays for the owner’s policy.
- Sarasota County (Venice): the buyer customarily pays.
- Lee County (Cape Coral, Fort Myers): the seller customarily pays.
- Charlotte County (Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte): the seller customarily pays.
If you are selling a house in Cape Coral and buying one in Naples, that flips on you twice in the same transaction. It is worth knowing before you sign, not at the closing table.
Working With Realtors and Lenders
Realtors get a named contact rather than a queue, and a firm that can answer a title question without putting the file on hold. If you refer closings regularly, our realtor page covers how we work.
The Naples Office
Esquire Land Title
405 5th Avenue South, Second Floor
Naples, FL 34102
Phone: (239) 799-7171
Email: Info@esquirelandtitle.com
We also have offices in Cape Coral, Venice, Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte. Full addresses and direct numbers are on our contact page, and closing documents and fee information are available through the closing portal.
Call the Naples office to talk through a closing, ask about a title question, or get a quote on a specific property.