Title Companies v. Attorneys
Posted By Keith Davis on October 23, 2009
Once a home is under contract, and sometimes even before, buyers will be asked if they have a settlement agent in mind to handle their closing. Some buyers opt for attorneys, others request a title company to handle the closing, primarily to avoid the attorney fees. After all, the insurance is the same after the closing, so why pay any more for the same service?
Fair question.
I have in front of me a 56 page document that was just released by CRA International, a national research organization that studied the HUD-1 costs across the country and tried to determine how much extra buyers spend on attorneys instead of going straight to the title company and closing it with them.
The argument that settlement companies have made is that attorneys are expensive and unnecessary for these transactions. Without competition, attorneys would force the price of home loan settlement sky high and the consumer would be punished. The attorneys argue that in fact it is the title companies that keep prices high. They claim that title companies may charge less in the form of a “closing fee” but they more than make up for that discount in the price of the insurance policy that they offer consumers. Attorneys are able to price title policies from different companies and that brings price down.
The study looked at 839 financings that occurred in a single 12 month period, and included 366 new home purchases and 473 re-fi’s. In the case of re-fi’s, there are occasions when the lender actually performs the closing. So, in Virginia for instance, 50% of the cases studied were closed by settlement companies, ~30% by attorneys and ~20% by the lenders directly. Across the entire study 60% were closed by settlement companies, 17.4% by attorneys and 22.7% by lenders.
The empirical evidence is that the attorneys are correct that title companies charge more for their policies, but they are wrong that it always costs more overall. The study showed that in states where Attorneys handle all the closings by law and the states where settlement agents are dominant the charges are roughly equal. There does not appear to be any influence that regulations have on the costs of closing a loan. In states, such as Virginia, where consumers have a choice, the numbers that make up the total for closing costs may be different, in the end, the costs are roughly equal.
The CRA study found that “High or low closing costs appear to be at least equally – and frequently more strongly – associate with a wide range of other factors (such as details of the loan, the characteristics of the state or loan area, and the characteristics of the borrowers);” Translation: While different loans cost different amounts to close, it is based on size of loan, credit score, local taxes (GRANTOR TAX!!!) and other factors, not who the settlement agent was.
So, what does an ambiguous study tell us about how buyers should choose their settlement agent? Very little. Instead, it says that the price conscious buyer isn’t going to save money. So the question that a buyer needs to ask is, “How will I best be served?” Given that settlement companies are not allowed to act as attorneys or provide legal advice in the case of legal issues arising, my advice is to stay with a local attorney who can represent you if you need it. The cost of bringing a lawyer on board down the road is much higher than having them with you from the start.
Keith is a self diagnosed data geek. With an MBA from UNC (Kenan Flagler Business School) Keith finds himself always looking for empirical evidence to explain the market around us. He has worked representing buyers and sellers as well as local builders. His background is in start-up companies, from which he brings his desire to find new ways in which technology can improve the buying and selling process for his clients.He lives in the City of Charlottesville with his wife, Krista, and two young children.
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