Title insurance, what a scam. Home Refi

[Neilk]

Title insurance is such a fricken scam.

I am looking to refinance my home to drop my rate from 5% to 4%. Sounds good and all, but I have to buy a new title insurance policy for $1,900. WTF? Why can't I roll my current policy into the new loan? It's not like anything has changed in the ownership of the house except for the note.

I think I might have *****ed about this once before, but this really aggravating.

[red-beard]

When I refi'd the last time, I used the same title company, and they were able to reduce the expenses quite a bit, since they could re-use some of the research, etc.

[t-tom]

It's not a croc when you have to sue someone for the title to a property you've bought, like I had to do. I also sued the title company.

[Joeaksa]

Put a larger down payment on the house and do not get the insurance. Thats what I did, putting 25% down...

[Keith Perry]

Talk to a Texas real estate lawyer for five minutes. I'm not, but I think title insurance fees are set by statute in Texas. Perhaps you are being charged an original buyers title insurance fee?

[BGCarrera32]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Put a larger down payment on the house and do not get the insurance. Thats what I did, putting 25% down...

I think you might be confusing title insurance with private mortgage insurance. PMI is a scam; you have to pay for insurance for the mortgage company in case you default on the loan.

Title insurance...good idea.

[RWebb]

use the same mortgage co. - mine likes me & has no ins. on a refi they offered (or no extra ins. - not sure)

[red-beard]

Neil, you can set who the title company will be. Use your old one. Call them up and ask for a discount, since they are doing the work just to "update" the policy. I expect that you will be able to get a reduction in all of the areas by the title company. This is exactly what I did with my refi in 2007 when I put in a pool.

[stomachmonkey]

Built a house from scratch. Refid a year later.
They still forced the title issue.
Sometimes it's a scam.

[Rick Lee]

Title insurance rates are set by the state, so you're not going to get a better deal by shopping around, especially on a purchase. On a refi, you can usually get a reissue rate if you go to the same place you used when you purchased. I don't think you usually need an owner's policy, just lender's. Unless your loan to value is under 50%, the lender is going to have more on the line than you will, so they'll fight for you.

[RANDY P]

new policy is underwritten since they need to check for new lawsuits, judgements, etc. etc.

Find a cheaper company. Beware TX is just expensive.

Lender will require it FYI, it's to cover their ass, esp in TX.

rjp

[RANDY P]

no seller, so no policy for them.

PS that's a title CO scam to issue a full purchase policy on a refi. twice the pay, 1/2 the work.

rjp

[Dantilla]

Having title insurance on my old warehouse paid of in a huge way for me a couple years ago.
The story is longer than I will go into here, but I'm now a big fan of title insurance.