In many parts of the country, a closing is handled by an escrow agent. It is the excrow agent’s job to insure that each party performs his or her obligations under the contract. Thus, the escrow agent is a neutral third party who works for both buye…

Some attorney’s ARE escrow companies, like John Wagner Escrow in Seattle on Roosevelt. I am using them now for my Mt. Baker sale, because the owner turned 100 years old! while I had it listed, and we are dealing with a “convenience only”, not “durable” Power of Attorney. Also because the seller has an attorney…and as you pointed out in the FSBO post, one attorney ends up equalling two attorneys

Just like lenders and inspectors…one size does not fit all and I have a few different escrow companies I juggle for different situations. Once in a while a buyer or seller has a specific company in mind for Title and/or Escrow, but usually they are in the industry. Buyers and Sellers who work for Title companies or Lending institutions, for example, pick their own.

That raises a point I have had trouble with. When the seller or buyer does choose, it is because they are getting a special discount. But escrow doesn’t apply the discount and then split the fee 50/50 as called for in the contract. They only apply the discount to the party in the transaction that they know. I try to tell them that this is contractually incorrect, but they don’t “get it”. They don’t want to give the discount to the party they don’t know. It’s a pain in the butt!

Is this true for an escrow department of a title insurance company or just independent escrow companies?

Thanks for the informative post.

As a relative newbie to real estate who (luckily) has been closing about 2 or 3 deals a month this year, I’ve always wondered why anyone would use X escrow agent over Y… and why some agents are so adamant about using X instead of Y. I always thought the only difference really was the location (I hate driving to Kent, or Everett at 4 PM on a Friday afternoon for a signing) and the slight discount they give some agents. (And yes, competence, as you mentioned is a huge factor… I unfortunately haven’t been in this industry long enough to know who is competent or not, so I’ve been learning the hard way).

From your experience, would you go with a huge company (Talon Group, LandAmerica, Chicago Title & Escrow) or a smaller one (ones I’ve used recently for example being Dependable Escrow, Salmon Bay Escrow). Actually, I have one in the works that’ll be closed by a real estate lawyer. Being one yourself, does your office offer closing services?

Actually, I think I just confused myself a little bit. Is an “Escrow Company” and a “Closing Agent” the same thing? If a real estate lawyer is closing the deal for us, would that person be considered the “Escrow Company”?

The significance of this might well be to make every MLS obsolete, realtor.com irrelevant, Google Base old fashioned, Craig’s list history and significantly transform the role of a real estate agent as a central figure in the transaction to one of a r…