My title company called a virtual assignment "not a real deal" and charged me a $1,200 closing fee anyway

Talked to a title company in Cincinnati last Tuesday about a house I had under contract for $87,500, assignment to an end buyer at $96,000. Lady on the phone said she'd seen "these internet deals" go sideways and wasn't sure they'd touch it. Then she quoted me $1,200 in closing fees on top of the standard stuff, which on an $8,500 spread is not nothing. I asked her to itemize it and she sent back a PDF with a $400 "remote transaction coordination fee" that I've never seen at any other company. I've talked to three title companies in the last six weeks across two states and the fees vary so wildly I can't budget a deal with any confidence. The Cincinnati one eventually closed, I netted $6,900 after everything, but I keep thinking about how that $400 line item was just made up and I paid it because I didn't know enough to push back harder. Wondering if anyone else is seeing title companies invent fees specifically because they know you're not local and won't walk in and argue about it.

grant_ozuna7 AF1C

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shane_dougherty Get yours

That $400 "remote transaction coordination fee" is completely fabricated, and yes they absolutely do that more to out-of-state people. I'm a GC in the midwest and I've been poking around the wholesaling side for about eight months now, and the spread on title fees I've seen quoted for the exact same type of deal is genuinely absurd. I've seen honest closing costs on a straight assignment run $650 to $850 all-in at shops that know what they're doing, not $1,200 plus mystery line items. The Cincinnati market specifically has a handful of title companies that have gotten comfortable padding fees on anything that looks like investor activity because there's no standardization and most assignors are too relieved the deal closed to fight it. That $6,900 net on an $8,500 spread should've been closer to $7,600 if you'd had a title company that wasn't testing you.

shane_dougherty Get yours

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