Hall & Runnel’s Coronavirus Advisory
To Our Clients:
The COVID 19 (Coronavirus) outbreak is changing daily and we are actively monitoring the situation as our first priority is the health and safety of our customers and employees. We continue to improve our process to better protect the health and safety of our team members, customersand communities we serve and are working hard to minimize business and transactional disruptions.
We appreciate you trusting us to handle your legal and closing matters and we are working overtime to provide you the best service possible during this extraordinary time.
Hall & Runnels, PA, falls under the essential services categories of financial and legal services. Therefore, unless we receive further instructions or guidance to the contrary, our title insurance underwriter, or from the American Land Title Association, we plan to continue business operations by serving our clients while taking further extraordinary precautions to keep everyone safe.
At the present time, most of our employees are still working on-site at our office in Destin, and we anticipate keeping our offices open as long as staying is reasonable and safe for all of us. We have a contingency plan in place that will enable us to provide you with uninterrupted service should closing our offices becomenecessary.
Our policies have been updated to reflect our processes for handling in-person appointments and transactions. The current policies are provided below. Further instructions will be posted at the entrance of our office and these protocols will be distributed to all parties prior to any closing.
- BY APPOINTMENT ONLY IN OFFICE CLOSINGS. HALL & RUNNELS is strictly enforcing a policy that dictates we will be seeing clients by appointment only. This policy is for the protection of our clients, our attorneys, settlement officers, and staff.
- ALTERNATIVE TO IN-OFFICE CLOSINGS.HALL & RUNNELS is offering a “Breath of Fresh Air” by providing a table set up outside in the fresh air which will facilitate appropriate distancing to allow us, upon request, to conduct closings without requiring entry into our interior office space or building lobby.
- HAND SANITIZING REQUIRED. Everyone who enters the HALL & RUNNELS office will be required to sanitize their hands, NO EXCEPTIONS. Anyone who is exhibiting any symptoms, feels sick, or has been exposed to COVID-19 will be asked to leave the office. All of our clients and partners are like family, but at this time we must refrain from our usual handshakes and hugs, which will be replaced with friendly smiles and waves! We have ensured that all surfaces in the meeting rooms will be thoroughly disinfected between appointments and items you usually see on our settlement tables will be disinfected or in some cases removed completely.
- SIGNATORIES ONLY AT CLOSING. We realize that real estate closings are usually celebratory events that include family and friends. However, for the health and safety of everyone involved, only signors need to attend the closing. Please only attend the closing if you are signing documents. Real estate agents and loan officers are encouraged to speak to their clients ahead of closing and may make arrangements to call in or utilize FaceTime or other application to be present remotely during the scheduled closing time.
- SHORTER CLOSING TIMES. Additionally, when allowed by the lender and whenever possible, settlement documents will be highlighted for signatures beforehand to make the closing go as efficiently as possible. We will do our best to provide documents before the settlement to allow you to formulate questions prior to closing.
- REMOTE ON-LINE NOTARIZATION/E-CLOSINGS/E-RECORDING. Although our underwriters have given us the ability to insure certain electronically notarized transactions and HALL & RUNNELS is set-up with an electronic notarization vendor, it is not guaranteed to be available on every transaction. Rest assured that HALL & RUNNELS will attempt to utilize electronic notarization whenever it is possible. HALL & RUNNELS will be utilizing e-recording in every Florida county accepting e-recording. We have already been e-recording in many jurisdictions in the State of Florida. We will do our best to get all legal documents recorded as quickly as possible after closing.
- WIRE OR FEDEX COMMISSIONS. If you are an agent with a commission check waiting for you at HALL & RUNNELS, it will be sent via wire transfer or FedEx at no extra charge by our office (*PLEASE NOTE: the receiving bank may impose a wire fee, please inquire). Please contact us with wiring instructions or the address for your FedEx delivery.
- WE ARE HERE TO HELP. In the event that your usual HALL & RUNNELS Settlement Officer is out of the office or unable to complete the work on your settlement, another member of our team will be able to help.
Our staff and our clients are very important to us. We appreciate your patience and flexibility during this time, and most of all, we hope that everyone stays safe and healthy.