Buying or Selling a Home/title insurance

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Expert: - 7/30/2006


Question
Typically, who pays for title insurance if it does not state so in the contract, buyer or seller?
Is this something that can be negotiated in a contract?
I live in Harris County, Houston, Texas.  Is there a difference in price of various title companies or is it a standard charge basedon the house? (Does it pay to shop around?)

Answer
Dear Son;
Typically the buyer pays for title insurance. Since it is insuring against any problem with title it could be construed as a conflict of interest for the seller to buy this. However, anything is negotiable in a contract so if you want to include this in the seller's fees along with other closing costs go ahead and specify in the contract that you would like this covered.  There are price differences (though they are not extremely variable)and usually the closing attorney handles this for you.  You can talk to your attorney about who he or she will use and check with them on the fees.

Sincerely,
Jessica Bryan

Buying or Selling a Home

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Jessica Bryan

Expertise

buying and selling process such as:
General questions from first time buyers
How to market a home
Why choose a REALTOR
How do I find a REALTOR
Should I consider buying or selling without a REALTOR--how much can I save
Should I remodel or move
How much can I expect to gain by fixing up my home before selling
Helpful tips when selling
Helpful tips when buying
finding a good mortgage loan
what is the difference between banks, mortgage bankers, and mortgage brokers
Questions from the general public, people thinking about getting their real estate license, newly licensed.
Fellow professionals who have interests in networking and how to get started
What is a market evaluation and how does it differ from an appraisal what are the different loan programs
services a REALTOR can perform
when to use a lawyer
when to use escrow
what are the regional differences in the buying and selling process
what is the MLS and how does it work
how can the layman access information on the web--listings and other information
These are just a few of the questions. I can suggest that if I am unable to answer a question I will refer the inquiry to a source that can.

Experience

Anyone who is in this business and who dedicates oneself to professionalism has continued to take classes and along with it,additional credentials, awards and honors. I can list a host of them, but my greatest accomplishments happen to be those of getting first time buyers (who didn't think they could afford to buy a home)into a home of their dreams. The look on their faces when I hand over the keys is worth all of the hard work.

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