Buying a House

by Rosa V.
(Hackensack, NJ, USA)

Do I have to pay for the title company when I am paying cash for a home?

=====ANSWER=====

Hello Rosa,

Thank you for coming by my website. I hope you found this site helpful.

Your question is the first one of it's kind here in our community since very few people pay cash for a house.

Every time a house closes, there are closing costs involved. When we close on a house, one of the things a buyer wants to be sure of is that the property is free and clear of all liens. So in other words, we want to be sure it has clear title.

Normally with a lender involved they will make sure a title search is done to be able to put the first lien position on the property. This protects them in case the borrower defaults and stops making their payments.

Ok, with all of that said, now that you are paying cash, you still want to be sure you get clear title since you will be in the position of the lender even though you will not owe on the property.

During the transaction, both the seller and the buyer will have title costs. It's actually called title insurance. The seller has to pay his/her side and the buyer pays their side.

It is normally a 50/50 split in costs. The only way you can get the seller to pay it all is if you have it included in your contract to purchase. So that would have to be done before you make an offer to buy the house.

If you have already made the offer and the seller accepted it and you are now going into closing, it is too late and yes you will pay your side of the title insurance and even some other closing costs involved.

Hopefully you find this helpful. Make sure and visit the links in this post since they will help explain in further detail.

Also, please help me out by paying it forward and tell other people about your experience here at my website if you feel inclined to do so.

I'm working very hard to make this the best FREE resource for first time home buyers on the web.

Kind Regards,

Jeffrey Ragan