With the Buyer's Choice Act (Assembly Bill 957), buyers are supposed to be protected in foreclosure transactions by being allowed a choice of their own escrow and title company. While buyers themselves might not actually have a preference, an experienced buyer's agent will know which escrow companies and officers give the best service and price, and which title companies have comprehensive insurance. But the bank ends up winning this battle, since they say the buyer has a choice, but then the seller will not pay the owner's title insurance or half the escrow amount. So with the cost of this services being $1500-2500, most buyers will just stay with the seller's choice.
Not meaning to generalize, but invariably the seller chosen escrow company will be so busy that:
-their service is compromised
-they will charge higher fees to the buyer(loan tie-in, escrow, doc prep, archive fee, wire fee, courier fee, notary fee, etc)
-be located in a different county(so you can never walk into the office to get something done, and your courier fees will be higher since they have to FedEx everything to you and send a mobile notary for loan doc signing)
-care more about servicing the seller so they can continue to get their business(no longer a "neutral" party between buyer and seller)
-never answer their phone since they work by email only
-have 6 different people handling your file so you never know who does what or who to contact if you have a question
With a good escrow officer being one of the keys to having a smooth transaction, giving buyers a real choice would sure be appreciated with all the concessions buyers are forced into accepting when buying a foreclosure home("as-is" purchase, short contingency period, non-refundable deposit, per diem late penalties, lack of disclosures etc)
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