We had a cash offer on a property contingent on home inspection thru our real estate agent in Brunswick,Georgia.Sellers did not want to comply with our needs.Deal fell apart and we agreed to pay home inspection no problem but now we have received a bill,175.00 for title search from lawyers office.As far as we thought this(search) only takes place when there is an accepted offer.This all happened in a very short amount of time--in other words in a very timely fashion.Our agent says we are responsible---is she right?We feel we should not have to pay this bill-please educate me.

Sounds like you had an accepted offer if you had a property inspection done. I have never heard of an inspection being done before the offer was accepted.

Who sent the order to the closing attorney for the title search? The lender in all probability. Did he ask you if you had resolved the inspection before he ordered title? How about the appraisal, did they order that also? They will probably send you a bill for that. Its an inexperienced loan originator who would do that and I think I would hold them responsible for ordering it too quickly if that is what happened. The only thing that would justify it is if you were trying to close in two weeks or something quick like that and asked someone to rush it.

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Dan Connolly
Atlanta Georgia
Atlanta Georgia Real Estate
Atlanta Foreclosures
Search for Atlanta Real Estate

Was the closing attorney chosen by the seller or the listing agent? If so they will probably use them on the next contract, and they will need the same title search. It may be different in your state, but here you wouldn't owe anything. Good luck!

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Jim Olenbush, ABR, CRS, GRI
Broker / Realtor

Austin Real Estate

Usually attorneys wait until the last possible minute to order a title search. They want to make sure everything else (appraisal, inspection, loan, etc) is good to go first.

I agree with Jim . Did the house sell to another buyer? They should be able to use the title search with them.

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Brandon Florida Real Estate
Do Follow, Comment Luv Tampa Real Estate Blog and Top Commentator enabled
Tampa MLS

What is customary for title policy costs varies by locale.

If your realtor is saying you owe it, I would assume you are in the "buyer pays" part of the country.

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Jennifer Karlen & Jon Karlen
Kentucky Horse Farms - Louisville Kentucky Real Estate - Lexington Kentucky Real Estate
Serving the Louisville KY metropolitan area including Jefferson County - Prospect Shelby County - Shelbyville Oldham County - Goshen, La Grange and the Lexington KY metropolitan area including Fayette County - Lexington Woodford County - Versailles Scott County - Georgetown Jessamine County - Nicholasville

yes we are in "buyer pays area"--we have no problem paying had the deal gone thru---my question is---who pays when the deal falls thru--we signed nothing that said "start title search"asap.

Getting into more of a legal question than a real estate one IMO.


One question that needs to be answered:
Who, specifically, ordered it?


You are still going to run into 2 problems:
1. Local customs dump the cost on you.
2. The person(s) that "benefit" from the policy, again falls on you.

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Jennifer Karlen & Jon Karlen
Kentucky Horse Farms - Louisville Kentucky Real Estate - Lexington Kentucky Real Estate
Serving the Louisville KY metropolitan area including Jefferson County - Prospect Shelby County - Shelbyville Oldham County - Goshen, La Grange and the Lexington KY metropolitan area including Fayette County - Lexington Woodford County - Versailles Scott County - Georgetown Jessamine County - Nicholasville

The title search also benefits the listing agent and the Seller.

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Dan Connolly
Atlanta Georgia
Atlanta Georgia Real Estate
Atlanta Foreclosures
Search for Atlanta Real Estate