Los Angeles

[ronaldrose]

First time homebuyer here that is a bit overwhelmed by the process.

Next week I am closing on a home in Ventura with a sales price of $600k. The purchase agreement for the property states that the seller gets to choose personal loans the escrow holder and that the buyer and seller are to split the escrow fee. I assuemed that the seller would choose a reasonable escrow holder since he was splitting the fee. When filling out the original purchase agreement, I admit that I didnt understand the implications of may of the choices that I was making, but I have since learned.

The seller chose to go with an independent escrow holder (not affilliated with title). The settlement fee from the escrow holder is $1900. This is the amount to be paid by each party so escrow gets a total of $3800. This amount does NOT include any title fees, title insurance, notary fee, etc. I have already signed my escrow instructions and I think I am to the point where the fee is not something we can negotiate.

Am I getting screwed? I realize that I should have inquired about the fees earlier in the process and am just going to chalk this one up to a learning experience. What is a typical fee for this area for an independent escrow holder?

[ronaldrose]

First time homebuyer here that is a bit overwhelmed by the process.

Next week I am closing on a home in Ventura with a sales price of $600k. The purchase agreement for the property states that the seller gets to choose personal loans the escrow holder and that the buyer and seller are to split the escrow fee. I assuemed that the seller would choose a reasonable escrow holder since he was splitting the fee. When filling out the original purchase agreement, I admit that I didnt understand the implications of may of the choices that I was making, but I have since learned.

The seller chose to go with an independent escrow holder (not affilliated with title). The settlement fee from the escrow holder is $1900. This is the amount to be paid by each party so escrow gets a total of $3800. This amount does NOT include any title fees, title insurance, notary fee, etc. I have already signed my escrow instructions and I think I am to the point where the fee is not something we can negotiate.

Am I getting screwed? I realize that I should have inquired about the fees earlier in the process and am just going to chalk this one up to a learning experience. What is a typical fee for this area for an independent escrow holder?

[JG1]

Don't know the answer, sounds high.  Figure your agent should know the answer, though?  But mainly I wanted to let you know I recall this same issue being posted by someone else recently and I think there escrow fee was the same as yours or very close to it, and they were asking the same question - so you may see if you can locate that thread somewhere in the Los Angeles messages.

[Andiamo53]

I bought my house one year ago for $450K. My initial escrow fees and title insurance together were $2448.50 (for nefarious reasons they lump this together on the HUD 1 on line 1101). So minus the tilte insurance my escrow fees were also around $1900. However, I demanded  a breakdown of line 1101 and it looked like this:

$1196.00 escrow fee 

$455.00 lenders title insurance,

$62.50 is Sub Escrow to Title,
$100.00 Messenger fee,

$25.00 Wire/Express,

$150.00 Loan Tie In,

$35.00 Wire Fee,

$75.00 Edoc Fee,

$100.00 Messenger fee,

$150.00 notary

$100.00 Title endorsement.  

 I was able to negotiate a $250 discount with the escow people (who  were also picked by the seller) because I complained about the "Edoc Fee" and the double messenger fees. I did this 2 days before closing. I threatened not to close unless they worked with me.You should similarly ask for a breakdown and try to lower some of those bogus  fees. I'm told most Escrow companies will do it because they want to close a much as you do. If you have trouble, ask your agent for help.

PS: The escrow people did a lot of work to get this thing to close because the sellers were flakes so I thought they legitimately earned the $1200 escrow fee.

[inescrowventura]

Hope I am not too late to add to this topic... search for loan tie-in of $600 on the LA board and you will see my situation in Ventura County (Conejo Valley side.) I didn't ask (and didn't think I would have to ask fees/etc before signing off on contingencies... I learned..

In any case, my escrow company the sellers chose has been crazy with fees and I expect it to get worse. Did the lender provide you with a list of settlement service providers at issuance of your GFE. Hope not... if not, see the thread on the tie-in of $600. Your title settlement service fees (title, escrow, doc, etc) can/should be capped at 10% over your GFE.

Good luck to you!