How we helped Bill sell his home by being proactive and informative

"I have nothing but good things to say about them, the whole team there is really great. After we got our initial appointment set up, they came out and talked us through their process. They really have a strong knowledge of the market and did what they said they would do. The house sold very quickly and it was very effective service!"

-Bill Scheer, Home Seller

We helped Steve with his short sale transaction by going above and beyond to get the deal moving forward

"We were in a short sale situation and we were next in line to put in an offer on the property. Everything worked out because Gia pushed it through so we had a really positive experience. We had issues with our bank and Gia stepped us and was always tying together loose ends."

-Steve Polowy, Home Seller

Know Your Fees When Selling Your Home: Title Insurance

There are many great Boca Raton and Palm Beach County homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (561) 395-8418 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today, Palm Beach Premier's favorite attorney, James Brown, addresses some of the fees you have to pay when you sell your home. Title insurance is necessary after selling your home and there is a contract that needs to be signed, the FAR/BAR. This contract stipulates who, between the buyer and seller, is responsible to pay for title insurance. There is no law in the books, but it's customary in Palm Beach County that the seller pays the title insurance.

The problem people run into is the seller is generating the title insurance and all its related searches, but the buyer is the party who is exposed to the transaction; they buyer is the one that typically wants to see the outcome of those searches. When the seller pays for title insurance, the buyer doesn't have the right to see it until after closing, or, in some cases, aren't allowed to see it at all.

The buyer can benefit dramatically from paying for title insurance. It can be structured so that it's no additional cost to the buyer and no additional burden for the seller. In this case, the seller would not be missing out on any of the money they'd get throughout the normal course of the sale. When the buyer pays for title insurance, they can look at search reports and municipal lead searches, which have things like open permit searches and code violations - essentially, all the things that may not have incurred in the sale that the seller knew about. Because it's technically the seller's contract, the buyer may not be made aware of certain important things that could be costly down the road.

That's why it's important to work with an attorney when title insurance is being discussed. If you are a buyer, you don't want to find out that your new home lacks certain permits the seller neglected to inform you about. What often happens is somebody buys a property and the seller buys the title insurance. A few months later, when the buyer tries to do something simple, like hang some gutters, they find out there is a permit that was never closed out from the prior owner. In this case, the buyer is responsible for closing out the permit. This might require hiring a contractor or an engineer - which could cost you anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars. James once saw a homeowner that had to tear down an entire addition because it was erected without a permit.

In order to avoid these kind of problems, give us a call. We'd be happy to put you in touch with James, and make sure you are protected during the title insurance process.