These fees can be charged over and over when properties fall out of escrow.
As so many have noticed, everybody has their hand out when money or property is exchanged.
Really, these documents are public record anyway, so why is there a “fee” in the first place? Sure, some nominal expenses are incurred but then I already pay taxes to pay the wages of the employees in the first place.
Too, with modern digital computers and e-mail, inexpensive storage media - and home personal printers, etc., just what is the justification for charging several hundred dollars “per copy”?
My particular state (Iowa) is interesting because “title insurance” is technically illegal. This quirk arises because of a lawsuit some years ago, the reason escapes me.
It should be pointed out that title insurance PROTECTS THE LENDER, NOT THE BUYER. Never mind that the buyer has to pay this. You can buy your own title insurance but nobody is going to tell you that.
Most everything I have read and understand admonishes people to never buy real estate or enter a contract without a personal attorney retained by you to look over the documents - there are many - and they are all written up by other attornies! One wonders, what is the percentage of sub-prime nonsense loans that were entered into with an attorney representing the borrower?
Still, homebuyers in Iowa still have to purchase title insurance, document fees, recorder fees, survey fees, and others I’m sure.