4 ms·

FYI, the seller didn't choose the escrow company. Either your agent/attorney or the seller's agent/attorney did. And you had the legal right to choose the com

by OldHand2018 5y ago

FYI, the seller didn't choose the escrow company. Either your agent/attorney or the seller's agent/attorney did. And you had the legal right to choose the company providing almost all of those services. Well, in most states you do. Federal law provides that you can choose a subset of them.

irrational 5y ago
We recently sold a home. We did choose the escrow company. Neither we, nor the buyers, used an agent/attorney. We did the same thing when buying our new house. No agents or attorneys involved and the sellers chose the escrow company. These days, with the Internet, it really is tremendously easy to fill out all the paperwork correctly and do everything yourself. The total time we spent from beginning to end was a few hours total, which saved tens of thousands of dollars on each transaction. 10/10 I’d forgo using an agent/attorney next time as well.
- topkai22 5y ago
  Not only that, you absolutely should shop the optional services (like title, escrow, etc.) We saved thousands in fees because me and my agent made a couple of phone calls to get competing bids after the seller (really the sellers agent) tried to direct us to a very expensive set of options.
- OldHand2018 5y ago
  I would guess that in both cases, the buyer could have stepped in and said "no, use XYZ escrow service". The general idea is that the person that pays the fee at closing is the person that gets to choose the service provider. I could say more about the various "incentives" that some of the service providers offer to be the "default", but, well, I don't want to do that ;)
  - conductr 5y ago
    Nope. As a seller, that’s a big nope. If you want my property, I choose the title company. End of story.
    - OldHand2018 5y ago
      Go for it. But unless you pay (or it is a cash-only deal), it's a violation of federal law and the buyer can come after you later on for 3x the cost. End of story. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/12/2608 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/12/2608
      - conductr 5y ago
        Oh wow, I've only ever sold to cash buyers & come to think of it my preferred title company wasn't even a point of negotiation. I suppose it does protect the buyer more, I just like working with a competent and fast title company

irrational 5y ago

We recently sold a home. We did choose the escrow company. Neither we, nor the buyers, used an agent/attorney. We did the same thing when buying our new house. No agents or attorneys involved and the sellers chose the escrow company. These days, with the Internet, it really is tremendously easy to fill out all the paperwork correctly and do everything yourself. The total time we spent from beginning to end was a few hours total, which saved tens of thousands of dollars on each transaction. 10/10 I’d forgo using an agent/attorney next time as well.

topkai22 5y ago
Not only that, you absolutely should shop the optional services (like title, escrow, etc.) We saved thousands in fees because me and my agent made a couple of phone calls to get competing bids after the seller (really the sellers agent) tried to direct us to a very expensive set of options.
OldHand2018 5y ago
I would guess that in both cases, the buyer could have stepped in and said "no, use XYZ escrow service". The general idea is that the person that pays the fee at closing is the person that gets to choose the service provider. I could say more about the various "incentives" that some of the service providers offer to be the "default", but, well, I don't want to do that ;)
- conductr 5y ago
  Nope. As a seller, that’s a big nope. If you want my property, I choose the title company. End of story.
  - OldHand2018 5y ago
    Go for it. But unless you pay (or it is a cash-only deal), it's a violation of federal law and the buyer can come after you later on for 3x the cost. End of story. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/12/2608 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/12/2608
    - conductr 5y ago
      Oh wow, I've only ever sold to cash buyers & come to think of it my preferred title company wasn't even a point of negotiation. I suppose it does protect the buyer more, I just like working with a competent and fast title company