★★★☆☆
Used this title company for a mortgage refinance. As part of general due diligence I called and asked to verify who they were before sending funds. I asked specifically about their "Agency ID No. 3031440" (this is the exact text from their email) which I was not able to verify initially before calling them. I asked the representative I spoke with what this ID number was in reference to and where I could look it up independently and they could not answer that basic question. Ultimately, I did find it via a search on the Texas Department of Insurance website.
They were not easy to get ahold of and didn't give me great confidence when I spoke to them on the phone.
I do want to clarify that everything did go through for the refinance transaction.
★★★☆☆
Lazy or uneducated / Ignorant to new construction property tax proration procedure. Do not use if you bought a new construction home. You have been warned!
The issue- When you buy a home the previous owner is responsible for the taxes from January 1st up until the date you purchase the home. That responsibility is for the CURRENT year not the previous year. What this title company does is base the property tax proration on the previous year. With a new construction property the previous years January 1st value was only raw land value, drastically less, and a very inaccurate way to prorate new construction. This leads to an under credit on your closing statement that you then have to reach out and fix later (if you remember, or are knowledgeable enough to realize.)
We're not talking about a small amount of money, this could lead you to pay thousands more in taxes depending on the value of your home.
Tewanza told me before closing to contact them after the tax bill was issued so taxes could be recalculated. When I did exactly that, they backtracked and refused to adjust, despite the contract clearly stating "prorations shall be adjusted once the tax statement is available."
The actual tax bill was nearly triple the amount used at closing, resulting in a significant under-credit that they would not correct. Forcing me to waste precious time arguing over something that should be very routine. I contacted other Title companies and they agreed with me that the proration should have been based on the sales price of the property in the first place, or at the very least do as the contract states and give me my refund.
Luckily I know the property tax field very well. I will be pursuing a lawsuit with Lone Star Premier Title if they wont fix the issue. I can only imagine how many people have been wrongfully charged by this title company due to their ignorance.
★★★☆☆
Stay far away!! Tewanza is not very educated in what she does and is lazy in trying to help you. My husband and I had to educate her about our contract as it relates to property taxes, and she clearly didn't even make an effort to read the contract. With buying a house being such a big financial move, you need someone much better than this Lone Star group. Unfortunately we had to use them because our seller got to choose. To add to it all, the location is far away in a sketch building. I wish we would've used Republic Title.