Where Does Your State Stand On Predictable Recording Fees?
I am in the process of selling three duplexes and last month accepted an offer on the first one. While I’ve bought and sold houses in the past this is my first time selling a house on my own (without a realtor). I started contacting local title companies; the first was a very simple fee structure, but as I talked to the second, third, and fourth companies I got more confused about which of the various fees were required. Admittedly, most of my confusion was with title company fees, of which a very small portion was directly tied to the actual recording fee. However, if the recording fee is incorrect it can negatively impact the closing. I later learned Wisconsin has predictable fee pricing.
The Property Records Industry Association is conducting a webinar to not only answer the above question about where your state stands on predictable fee recordings, but also share information about whitepapers, toolkits, and other resources the association provides; as well as examples of predictable fees and why you should care. Click here to sign-up:
Predictable Fees – The Background, The Tools, The Tracking
Thursday, May 17th at 3:00 PM ET
The presentation will be led by Jerry Lewallen president of eRecording Partners Network and a member of PRIA’s Board of Directors and Sharon Martin register of deeds Washington County, WI and active member of PRIA, Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association (WRDA) and more. I have known both presenters for ten years – to learn more about Jerry and Sharon see the attached announcement.
Having a predictable fee means it is not impacted by items that may change during the loan origination process such as page count, number of parcels, etc. States have implemented predictable fee structures in multiple ways which I’m sure Jerry and Sharon will discuss during the webinar. Some have a uniform price for all documents, others have predictable fees based on document type, flat fees based on county population, and others have uniform pricing with certain exceptions.
The benefit of the predictable fee is to reduce the chances of penalties or your documents being rejected with can cause delays completing the transaction. The predictable fee structure can save time and money for the recorder, submitter and ultimately the consumer.
I used a few snippets from PRIA’s predictable fee whitepaper for this announcement, but Sharon and Jerry will give you firsthand accounts and examples, and point you to the complete whitepaper and a predictable recording fee toolkit in the PRIA resource library.
I encourage everyone in the industry to join us for the presentation on the May 17th. Lastly, for those of you located in Wisconsin, I still have two properties for sale in Janesville if you know anyone interested in rental properties.
