As a smart consumer in today’s economy, you probably find yourself doing extensive research before making any major purchase or hiring someone to perform a professional service. The same should hold true for when you go through the home buying process: you've looked at dozens of houses, negotiated the perfect price and then found just the right interest rate and monthly payment to buy it. However, the one step that consumers so often neglect to do that can wind up saving them so much money is shopping around for the right title company to conduct the closing.

Several recent studies have shown that shopping around for title services can save a homebuyer a substantial amount of money – sometimes as much as several hundred dollars – as closing costs, like title examinations and title insurance, tend to vary among title companies.  Far too often, consumers simply rely upon the recommendation of their loan officer or realtor for where their closing should occur without doing their own research, and they wind up paying much more money as a result.  One national survey recently found that closing costs have increased as much as 6%-7% in just the past year alone. 

Federal law states that, as a purchaser of property, it is your right to choose the title company to complete your transaction, and no one can (or should) tell you otherwise.

In fact, as of last year, the law mandates that mortgage lenders provide you with what is known as a "Loan Estimate", which is typically a three page document that must be delivered to you within three days of applying for a mortgage loan.  On the top of the page 2 of this Loan Estimate, you will clearly see that your lender must disclose to you that services such as closing fees and title insurance are "Services You Can Shop For," and your lender is even required to give you a list of settlement service providers you can contact on your own.  However, you are certainly under no obligation to use this list.

Here at the Rounsavall Title Group, we encourage you to browse our website to get as much information as possible about our company, our history, and our way of conducting business. Please follow up by calling us to talk about the closing process in general, as it has always been our belief that the more transparent we are about our company, what we do, and our reasonable fee structure (which we will always provide to you in writing), the more likely it is that you will feel comfortable about working with us on your closing.

Remember, as a homebuyer in Kentucky, it is your right to choose whatever title company you wish to conduct your closing ... so be sure to pick one wisely.