$1,800 for purchases up to $500,000.
- Includes the arrangement of one mortgage.
- Includes the arrangement of title insurance and title insurance premium.
- Additional $125 per $100,000 above $500,000.
- Additional $300 for the use of a power of attorney.
- Additional $400 if bridge financing required.
- Additional $400 for the use of a private mortgage lender.
- Additional $400 for interim occupancy closing.
$1,500 for sales up to $1,000,000.
- Includes one mortgage discharge.
- Additional $125 per $100,000 above $1,000,000.
- Additional $150 per extra mortgage discharge and/or payout.
- Additional $300 for the use of a power of attorney.
$1,750 for refinances up to $1,000,000.
- Includes the arrangement of one mortgage.
- Includes the arrangement of title insurance and title insurance premium.
- Additional $150 per $100,000 above $1,000,000 to account for additional title insurance premium.
- Additional $300 for the use of a power of attorney.
- Additional $400 if bridge financing required.
- Additional $400 for the use of a private mortgage lender.
Information regarding our fee structure
Our goal is to have a transparent and simple fee structure.
- The fees quoted above are before HST.
- The purchase and refinance fee includes the arrangement of title insurance and the associated premiums.
- No software or office admin fees.
- No government registration fees or municipal admin fees.
- No wire fees.
What is Title Insurance?
Put simply, title insurance is a one time payment for an insurance policy to insure that you will have good marketable title of your property. The title insurance policy offers coverage for the entire time you own your property.
You might have heard recent news stories about people having their property sold without their knowledge. These fraudulent conveyances result in significant legal costs (and a massive headache) for the defrauded buyer and the original owner who had their property fraudulently sold. If the defrauded buyer and original owner had appropriate title insurance coverage, they would be compensated to put things right and the title insurance company will have their lawyers handle the legal issues.
Title insurance also allows lawyers to forgo certain searches which often incur additional costs and can delay the closing process.
An example: If the buyer pays for a Property Information Report from the City of Toronto, the fee is $198.59 and takes 5 business days. The report may reveal open work orders or other issues that might complicate closing (ie. home insurance issues, renegotiations between parties to fix the issue, breach of financing conditions, etc.). Alternatively, if the buyer purchase title insurance and it is later revealed that there is an open work order on the property, title insurance would cover the cost to fix the issue.
Furthermore, mortgage lenders often require a title insurance policy as a condition for providing the mortgage. This is why we have factored in the cost of title insurance into our fee structure.
Pricing vs Competitors
Residential real estate closing services provided by lawyers is often a volume based business. Our approach is to offer much more support and information to our clients, there will not be layers of admin staff and clerks to talk to before hearing from your lawyer! We have staff that deal with backend and banking related matters but our clients will always be talking directly with Edward Tse.
In case our exceptional service does not convince you. It is worth highlighting the pricing structure used by the industry.
Some firms choose to show a low base legal fee received by the firm ($800-$1,100) to get clients through the door and charge software, registration, third party fees, title insurance, etc. in their final accounting to their clients. There is nothing wrong with this but it makes it harder for clients to get an idea about the total cost.
A note on software costs. Almost all lawyers rely on a suite of software for their real estate law practice and the most popular software for decades was bought by a legal software conglomerate. In recent years they have increased prices from around $25/file to $250/file! Many real estate law firms still use this software and they are not eating that cost but passing it on to their clients. If you are getting a quote which does not include software and third party fees it is worth asking for an estimate on these costs up front. Our firm uses an alternative software suite that charges around $25/file therefore we are able to be price competitive while offering highly personalized support.