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Old 04-03-2017, 08:47 AM
 
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Will I get the same quote for lender's and owner's title insurance from different title insurance companies? If not, can I shop round or do I have to buy title insurances from my attorney? Thanks.
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Old 04-03-2017, 09:26 AM
 
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I suspect the premiums don't really vary that much. How much effort are you willing to expend to save a few bucks?
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Old 04-03-2017, 10:03 AM
 
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If it is really a few bucks or even a couple hundred bucks, I will just leave it to my attorney. However, every state is different in handling this.
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Old 04-03-2017, 01:02 PM
 
Location: Needham, MA
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You can shop around for title insurance. Prices are not regulated. In 10+ years of being a real estate agent, I don't think I've ever had a client that did it though.
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Old 04-04-2017, 09:18 AM
 
Location: Cape Cod
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The cost of title insurance can usually be negotiated with your attorney. It doesn't hurt to try.
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Old 04-04-2017, 09:29 AM
 
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I thought the actual title insurance was a set rate $/thousand but the "title fee, processing, etc" was where they added the fluff.
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Old 04-04-2017, 09:46 AM
 
Location: Needham, MA
8,537 posts, read 13,953,890 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boston_Burbs View Post
I thought the actual title insurance was a set rate $/thousand but the "title fee, processing, etc" was where they added the fluff.
There's a commission that's paid to the "agent" (the attorney) which is usually more than 50% of the cost of the policy.
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Old 04-04-2017, 11:28 AM
 
Location: Gardner, MA
117 posts, read 116,439 times
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We just bought a house, and obtained a mortgage for doing so. We did shop around, and the cost we were quoted by our lender's attorney was the same as the lowest we found available. It was also cheaper to pay for both insurances (mortgage lender's plus ours) at one time, as there is a discount when they are bundled.

There was no obvious separate fee for obtaining such with the lender's attorney because when we opted in for having our own handled by them as well, their overall closing fees did not change, only the actual cost of our title insurance (with the discount) was added.


Now, the Homestead Declaration was a different story...the markup for them filing instead of us doing it ourselves was significant. I'm just mentioning this because it's where we saw an obvious markup, rather than due to the title insurance.
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Old 04-04-2017, 03:39 PM
 
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I found this article on the web, and I am shocked by the "commission" charged by the attorney (nearly 75% of total premium), and the ultra low claim rate (5%) in the title insurance business in MA. Some people say it is a scam, while some people say it is not because it still pays out claim. If we look this from a spectrum point of view, this business is more towards to SCAM end, simply due to 5% payout to policy holders, comparing to 85% in health insurance and 90% in homeowners insurance business, along with ultra high commission to attorney, no transparency and no market competition.

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/eco...tle-insurance/
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Old 04-04-2017, 06:37 PM
 
Location: Needham, MA
8,537 posts, read 13,953,890 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by artking09 View Post
I found this article on the web, and I am shocked by the "commission" charged by the attorney (nearly 75% of total premium), and the ultra low claim rate (5%) in the title insurance business in MA. Some people say it is a scam, while some people say it is not because it still pays out claim. If we look this from a spectrum point of view, this business is more towards to SCAM end, simply due to 5% payout to policy holders, comparing to 85% in health insurance and 90% in homeowners insurance business, along with ultra high commission to attorney, no transparency and no market competition.

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/eco...tle-insurance/
It's insurance. Sometimes you need it and sometimes you don't. You don't have a choice in getting the lender's policy but you do have a choice when it comes to the homeowner's policy.

This is the thing that boggles my mind about consumers in this industry . . . there are various forms of "insurance" in this industry - title insurance, using a real estate agent, hiring a home inspector, etc. People spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house sometimes even millions often cheap out by not using these various forms of "insurance" available to them which cost hundreds of dollars or sometimes thousands of dollars. In my opinion, that's being penny wise and pound foolish. Sure you can save a couple of dollars by not getting an owner's title insurance policy but if you happen to fall in that 5% of people who actually need the policy then it's well worth the money. In the end, you're protecting your single most valuable asset at a cost that's a minimal percentage of the value of it.

So really . . . who cares how often title insurance pays out? If you don't have it and you end up needing it chances are the expense you incur will have serious and long lasting financial implications for you.
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