All closing costs are negotiable (except taxes). Title insurance is huge and rates vary widely. Appraisals, lock in fees, closing points, fees, surcharges, etc. must all be looked at.
Look at the BIG pictures of all fees and surcharges. Not just the stated interest rate.
And - NO ADJUSTABLE mortgages with fine print. Go for a 15 or 30 year FIXED.
Read everything twice. Sign nothing until you read it and understand it. Walk away if something seems fishy.
Title insurance is a scam and should be against the law.
Unless you are a sub-prime borrower. In which case--don't read anything. Sign everything. Be surprised in two years when your monthly payment doubles. Then, blame the government and wait for a liberal democrat or a liberal republican to bail you out.
Also, be adamant and stick to your guns with a refusal to pay fees for early payoff of the loan.
I’ve heard countless stories of this being slipped into the contract at closing and pressure being put onto the buyer to sign it.
That’s pretty sound.
Keep in mind one small error...I am a broker and I have no control over the appraiser’s fee - he’s independent of me! You can often find another appraiser, but the $50 you’ll save doing that is easier to save in other ways honestly.
Title insurance is what it is, it’s basically a per-state thing, you can, however, get a “reissue” rate on title insurance - where they don’t charge for a new policy on the full loan amount, they simply reissue the existing policy and add to it any increase (if any) in the loan amount - it usually saves a couple hundred bucks.