Title Costs - Seems Unreasonable?

[Greg P.]

Hello, I've been using the same title company for awhile now and they have told me that they are giving me the best prices since I am a regular customer. Sounds great, but when I am buying a property through Fannie Mae, they are charging me only $250 for title fees and free title insurance. How can you beat that? On the other hand, my title company is charging me $695 for title fees + $500 or so for title insurance. I'm paying around $1k more for using a title company I have been loyal to for a long time. I've asked my title agent about this and they are telling me that they are giving me the best pricing and I am getting a benefit by using a local title company vs a out of state (Fannie Mae) title company. My question is, what is the benefit of really using a local title company? Is it worth paying $1k in this situation? I've had some minor issues with this title company with them not being straight forward on a couple of small fees, but I let it go by. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.