Who picks the title company for the closing of your transaction? Well, that depends on what type of transaction you are doing. If you are doing a refinance on your current home and you are using the same lender as you currently have your loan with, the lender will typically go back to the title company that was used for the last transaction. Let’s say you are building your dream home and are doing the permanent financing, typically you would use the same title company that you used when you took out your construction loan. A benefit of using the same title company for both types of transactions is that the title company has already worked the title work for the property and has what is called a base file. Ideally your lender would receive title work they requested quicker than what they would if you went with a different title company that wouldn’t have a base file for your particular property.
If you are selling a home, you as the seller would normally pay for the owners title policy and in doing so may have the option of choosing what title company you want the transaction to go through. Some sellers chose to use the title company that they used when they purchased the property. There are some sellers who don’t have a preference on what title company they use and so their agent will counsel them on which title company to select. If the seller is not paying for the owners title policy and the buyer is, then the buyer can select the title company they want to handle the closing of the transaction. A thing to keep in mind is since the buyer is the one who typically pays for the lenders title policy, they can always negotiate what title company they want to use if they have a preferred one, but if a seller is paying for both, they can choose without violating RESPA (the Real Estate Settlement and Procedures Act.)
In Texas the cost of title insurance is regulated so all title companies charge the same amount for the title policy. Because of this, choosing a title company comes down to looking at the level of service and expertise, as well as flexibility they provide to their customers and business partners.
