Letters to the Editor

Re: 'Stewart Title faces $1.95 million fine in Washington state' (Aug. 28)

Dear Editor:

As an escrow officer in the western states, I have seen many other title companies engage in practices that not only violate state law, but also violate the RESPA laws. In Nevada, the problem is so rampant that brokerages routinely require that title companies pay a "marketing fee" to be able to come in to a real estate office and talk to or market services to the agents employed there.

One of my clients recently moved to another brokerage that we were not routinely working with. We approached their management to see about becoming one of their "preferred providers." We received a pleasant response at the meeting, but the following day we received an e-mail from the broker explaining that he enjoyed talking with us and while he couldn't prevent his agents from using our services, if we wanted access to his offices we would need to pay a $5,000 fee each month. Needless to say, we won't be paying that fee.

Not only are such practices violations of RESPA, they also violate federal laws against restricting trade. According to Wikipedia, restraint of trade is defined as "a restriction on a person's freedom to conduct business in a specified or unspecified location for a specified or unspecified length of time. Such restrictions are normally enacted by contracts. Generally, however, such contracts are void on the ground of illegality, and cannot be enforceable unless they are reasonable in the interests of both contracting parties and of the public at large."

I think these real estate companies would be hard-pressed to explain how restricting a consumer's choice of title company to the few that can afford to pay outrageous fees to their company as being in the "interest of the public at large." After all, how can these companies afford to pay such exorbitant fees without charging higher fees themselves?

The insurance commissioner in Nevada needs to step up to the same level as the commissioner in Washington. Recently I read a real estate article on the Internet complaining that title and escrow fees had risen to all-time highs. Perhaps if all commissioners throughout the country took a harder look at the practices in their states and took action where necessary we would find that "free trade" would bring those fees down. I applaud the commissioner in Washington, and hope that other commissioners throughout the country follow his example!

Kirsten Bause
Escrow officer
Las Vegas, Nev.

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