Escrow handles all of the money, preparation of legal conveyance documents, gathering of pertinent payables, and clearing of title in a transaction.
For this reason, it is crucial that the escrow closing agent be a disinterested third party - meaning that they hold no affiliation to parties, financial interest, or influence in the transaction.
A shocking number of closings occur where conflict of interests exist in escrow, simply because Buyers, Sellers, and Brokers do not know to ask the question, are unaware of affiliations, and/or the information is not voluntarily disclosed to the parties.
Escrow agent neutrality is not actively regulated by any consumer protection agency in Washington state.