Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.