CFPB takes aim at Marketing Service Agreements: Washington Post

We had a very nice mention in the Washington Post this week on a topic that we are very passionate about:

“The best defense against getting ripped off [at real estate settlement] is to shop for settlement services aggressively, get competing quotes and look for online consumer reviews and complaints. You could save a bunch of money.”

The story comes after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a compliance bulletin highlighting the substantial risks real estate professionals assume when they enter into Marketing Service Agreements.

We were pretty excited to see the announcement given that we have been railing against this dirty business practice for a few years now.

Nationally syndicated columnist Ken Harney interviewed Todd about one brokerage that asked Federal Title to pay $15,000 per month in exchange for an opportunity to speak with agents and display brochures in their office. If the number seems outrageous, just consider it was their “going rate.”

Word is getting out there about the importance of shopping around when it comes to selecting a title company. Just this afternoon I took a call from a soon-to-be homebuyer who mentioned she had been “doing some reading” and learned that it would be in her best interest to compare title service fees and closing costs. (For what it’s worth, she also reported our numbers were lower than the title companies recommended to her.)