shopping for title insurance and settlement services in Pennsylvania

I was lucky enough to receive a HUD-1 from a competitor who does business in my county. It's a friendly competition. I haven't seen their fees for awhile and so I was curious. These numbers provide a terrific shopping comparison and it's a real life example so let's take a peek.

There is a mortgage and the transaction is a purchase. The sale price is $118,500.00.

The title premium is state regulated and so we would be charging the same amount as our competitor. In this case the state regulated title fees are:

TITLE INSURANCE INCLUDING LOAN & OWNER $858.38 reissue rate applies
ENDORSEMENTS $150.00
CLOSING SERVICES LETTER $35.00

So, I hear you asking the question. Why should you shop if these items are state regulated? Well, Pennsylvania allows optional fees and though there is guidance on the types of fees, the amounts are not regulated. The optional fees vary.

BTW - The HUD-1 Settlement Statement indicates that the closing took place in the office of the title agent so there was no travel. I also know that the closing took place during normal business hours - after 9am and before 5pm.

The following are the optional fees charged to the BUYER by our competitor:

• settlement fee $135.00
• document preparation $135.00
• notary $20.00
• electronic doc retrieval & wire $40.00
• overnight fees $25.00

The following are the optional fees charged to the SELLER by our competitor:

• settlement fee $135.00
• document preparation $135.00
• notary $10

The total optional fees charged by our competitor in addition to the state regulated minimum title premium is $635.00.

If the consumers had used the service of The Closing Specialists under our Choose and Save Program, the total optional fees charged in addition to the state regulated minimum title premium would have been ZERO.




Can I give you any more clear demonstration of the value of shopping for title insurance and settlement services?