RealEstateRaves

This is a simple question but not an easy question to answer.  This subject came up for me yesterday when my clients who are interested in making an offer on a property in San Mateo asked the obvious question….what are the real costs associated with my offer?  The purchase price is clear but all the other associated costs are not so clear.  When I gave my clients the “pat” answer….closing costs are a percentage of the purchase price that wasn’t acceptable, they wanted a more reliable estimate.  I understood but it was Saturday nite and all the Title Companies were closed and there was presumably no way to answer their question until Monday.  I promised to call a Title Company for help.

So, with this experience in mind I went to the internet and specifically looking for other “blogs” that might just be able to help.  What I discovered pretty quickly is that just this week the California Land Title Association with support from the California Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner, just rolled out a brand new site called “Title Wizard” go to  http://www.clta.titlewizard.com/default.aspx

This site was developed by CLTA for the express purpose of giving consumers the chance to compare Title Insurance rates.   More importantly it is a great source of information about the whole closing process  and explains why giving someone a “pat” answer about closing costs doesn’t really work.  Check out the site’s “Learning Center” for detailed information about the costs associated with closing on a property transaction.

I thank my curious clients for giving me the incentive to search and find a great source of information.

Joe Parsons

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