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Where I work, the listing agent opens up preliminary title before listing the house so that's the company that would be used at closing to provide title insurance. Not sure about other areas but we put the company name in the listing info so the buyer's agent knows where title is open.
In Florida it is customary for the seller to choose the title company since they are paying for the owner's title policy.
In Florida, the party who pays for the (new) owner's policy also selects the closer/title agent who can be either an attorney or a title agent at a title company. The decision as to whether it is the seller or the buyer who "picks and pays" is a matter of negotiation. I have heard that, in some counties, the decision on whether it is the seller or buyer who pays can be "customary" to some degree, and that may be so, but it really is a negotiated term of the contract. The arguments are: a) the seller should pay because they are guaranteeing a clean title; or b) the insurance benefits the buyer and, just like any other form of insurance, you buy insurance for the things you want to insure (i.e. Car, home, jewelry, etc.), so there are logical arguments for both approaches.
In Florida it is customary for the seller to choose the title company since they are paying for the owner's title policy.
It's the same in Michigan. Still, everything is negotiable. It usually doesn't matter much which title company is used...but it can be easier to deal with people you've already dealt with before, especially if you know that they are prompt and accurate.
In Texas, they recently passed a new rule that the Seller can not require the buyer utilize a specific title company. Our agent remarks used to almost always state: Seller to use Title Company XYZ @ PDQ title......
Alot of agents commonly got bonuses, or vacations, etc for using the same escrow agent in a specific office, so the rule was passed to negate that if the buyer wanted.....It did not however have its intended effect. Now almost every single agent remark states "If Seller is to pay for title policy, then use XYZ @ PDQ title" I highly doubt the seller cares at all who writes the policy (since its 100% price fixed by the state) so - the rule was effectively negated by realtors who just choose to use the same agent and keep the freebies coming.
Alot of agents commonly got bonuses, or vacations, etc for using the same escrow agent in a specific office,
Wow. Either I'm naive or I'm owed a vacation or two. I am not aware of any agent receiving anything of more value than a pen from a title agency in my market.
Wow. Either I'm naive or I'm owed a vacation or two. I am not aware of any agent receiving anything of more value than a pen from a title agency in my market.
I once got two pens.
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