Are Texas Home Mortgage Fees Really Highest in U.S.?

According to a survey by Bankrate, Texans pay more in home mortgage fees than any other state in the U.S.

The study, which ranks closing costs for loans including lender origination fees and other charges typically associated with obtaining a mortgage, showed that Texas has the highest fees across all 50 states. That’s a sharp increase from placing 13th last year, as Texans are paying an average of $3,046 to get a $200,000 mortgage. Compare that with the $2,265 Bankrate says Nevadans pay. Or the $2,366 you’ll be charged for a comparable loan in Tennessee. New Yorkers pay $2,892 on average

“New mortgage regulations are the biggest reasons why closing costs went up over the past year,” said Holden Lewis, a senior analyst at Bankrate. “The good news is that some lenders have not increased fees.”

But are these figures necessarily true? Jump for more perspective …

“I always find these stories amusing because usually the online data mine is skewed and it’s difficult to compare lender fees along with all of the other third party fees associated with obtaining a mortgage,” said Jeff Lindigrin of Great Western Home Loans. “For example, our ‘lender fees,’ which includes underwriting, processing, credit report, and flood cert, have not changed in almost 4 years. We charge a total of $1,260 and $150 of that is passed through to the attorneys that draw the loan documents. The third-party appraisal fee for a conventional loan in the DFW area is $375.  Other companies may charge more but that’s what we’ve negotiated with our appraisal panel.”

Lindigrin added that property surveys, if required, start at $400. Since Bankrate specified that title fees and interest isn’t included in the statistics they used, “I can’t see how these fees could reach those levels mentioned in the article, unless the borrower is buying down their rate, which is rare these days,” he said.

What do you think? Are these fees in line with what you’re seeing at closing?