How to Cut Your Closing Costs and Protect Your Home

An introduction to title insurance and making your home more affordable

  • Title insurance provides critical protection to homebuyers.

  • OneTitle National Guaranty Company can dramatically cut your closing costs when buying or refinancing a property because we offer lower title insurance rates and vastly lower fees.

What is title insurance? Why do I need it?

Getting title insurance is one of the standard steps homebuyers take before closing on a home purchase or refinancing a mortgage. Title insurance is crucial for a homebuyer because it protects you and the lender from the possibility that your seller doesn’t — or previous sellers didn’t — have free and clear ownership of the house and property and, therefore, can’t rightfully transfer full ownership to you. Even though the chance you will need to file a claim is relatively low, the value on what you stand to lose if you go without coverage is high. You could even lose your entire home.

Are there different kinds of title insurance policies?

There are two basic types of policies: an “Owner’s Policy” and a “Lender’s Policy.” The Owner’s Policy protects the homeowner’s interest in his or her home. The Lender’s Policy protects the bank’s interest, but does not protect the homeowner. That is why homebuyers generally choose to purchase both a Lender’s Policy and Owner’s Policy. Your lender will require you to purchase at least a Lender’s Policy, but remember that this does not protect your equity in your home.

How much does title insurance cost? How can I save?

Title insurance premium and fees can be a large portion of your closing costs. But there are two pieces of good news:

  1. You only pay the premium once (at closing).
  2. OneTitle National Guaranty Company offers lower rates and fees which can save you 20-50% on title-related closing costs on most transactions. OneTitle is able to do this because we filed our own lower rates, unlike our competitors who actually work together and file a single set of identical, higher rates.

You can see just how much you will save by visiting our rate calculator.

Who picks the title insurer?

By law, it is the homebuyer’s choice. While many homebuyers (or homeowners who are refinancing) allow their attorney or lender to select the title company, they should remember that it is always the homebuyer or homeowners’ choice and that picking the right company can save you a lot of money.

Be sure to tell your attorney and lender that you want to select your title insurer.

How can I learn more?

General information: www.onetitle.com
Your savings: www.onetitle.com/calculator
To order: www.onetitle.com/order
Telephone: 212.641.0200

Rate and Fee Comparison

The other major underwriters operating in New York State file rates together-identical rates. OneTitle filed its own rates, allowing us to provide lower premium rates to our clients. With our lower rates and low fees, total savings are often 20-50% compared to most title agents.

Transaction Example:
$400,000 purchase with a $320,000 loan in Zone 2.

Slide table Left/Right
OneTitle Our Competitors
Title Premium
Owner’s Policy (optional) $673 $750
Lender’s Policy $1,311 $1,456
Endorsements $100 $100
Title Search
Municipal Search (optional) $225 $335
Tax Search Included $69
Abstract Search Included Included
Bankruptcy Search Included $62
Patriot Search Included $43
Other Fees
Affidavits Included Included
Escrow Service Fee Included $61
Fedex Fee Included $32
Document Return Fee Included $75
Required Charges $1,386 $1,873
Optional Charges $923 $1,110
TOTAL $2,309 $2,983

For this transaction, OneTitle would save you 23% (or $674) due to our low premium rates and low fees.

This is not a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and may not be used for that purpose. Municipal recording fees, mortgage taxes, and transfer taxes are not included in this estimate.