We’ve relocated to San Diego from Massachusetts where we don’t have escrow companies in the transaction. As such, even the cost of an expensive attoreny does not come close to what the escrow company is charging us. Also please let me know if any of these fees are negotiable? We are purchasing a home for $1, 150, 000 with a small loan amount of $450K.
Besides the fees that I understand and know to be customary, these are the ones I’m questioning:
$2 150 (escrow fee) – is this fee the going rate?
with an additional $320 (which I don’t think I should be charged for)
$150-loan tie in fee?
$50-Electronic Doc download
$39.50 Archival Fee
$25.00 Wire Fee
$50 messenger fee
And then these other charges:
$858-lender’s coverage to lawyer’s title
$2566-Owner’s coverage to lawyers title (Seller pays this)
$200 endorsements if any
$75-sub-escrow fee
$200-notary/loan signing fee (never paid for the services of a notary in the past. If I’m being charged over $2K by the escrow company, surely someone in the office is a notary and if one is required at closing, I shouldn’t pay for this).
All closing costs are negotiable in California with that said, given the current market conditions, the following is somewhat typical:
– The cost of escrow is split 50/50
You can shop a few escrow companies but the cost of escrow is generally going to be based on the sales price of the home. So if you are paying 2150 then your seller is as well so the total cost of escrow if 4300. Call a few escrow companies, tell them the sales price of the home, and they will quote you a total for escrow only.
Then you will of course be nicked for a few hundred in the loan tie in, various docs and other fees as you quoted above. Again this is standard.
The 858 is for the title insurance policy that you need to purchase for your lender. Again this based on the value of the policy. I have used Lawyers before.
The other fees are standard as is the notary. You can tell the escrow company you want to hire your own notary and have the notary charge escrow. However if your notary screws up the loan docs, nobody will be to happy. The cost of escrow doesn’t cover 3rd party costs. Yes escrow companies do have notaries on staff but that doesn’t mean you will not be charged.
All in all, there is nothing that stands out as out of line with the line items you identified above.
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