Posted by rachel on December 20, 1998 at 10:32:01:
1-you have to go through the agent. If you try to cut the agent out(of cource you cant), you my offend the sellers and it may effect your negotations,and second you may offend the agent and the same thing, you may have a hard time in negotiations.
If the sellers are AAA motivated, you could do about anything and the sellers wont care, they just want there home sold. Just the agent will. You really should just go through the agent. Even though they get in the way most of the time.
2-Most title offices will do a pre title search for free,as long as they think they will get your business.
Posted by Rob FL on December 20, 1998 at 17:17:45:
Price of title searches vary from location to location. RESPA mandates that all title searhces that fall under RESPA be billed at no lower than the actual cost to do the search (which is still an indefinite amount). In FL the standard Realtor contract requires the seller to pay for the title search and title policy, but it is always negotiable.
BTW RESPA stands for the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974. It was passed by the Federal government and enforced by HUD. It controls 1-4 family residential properties that involve federally backed lenders (FHA,VA,FNMA/FHLMC,etc.). The National Association of Realtors is supposedly pushing to overhaul RESPA in 1999.