Closing a Pennsylvania property.

Title premiums are the same at every Pennsylvania agent

Pennsylvania title insurance rates are filed by the Title Insurance Rating Bureau of Pennsylvania and approved by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. Every member and subscriber charges from the same schedule, so nobody in Pennsylvania can quote you a cheaper premium for the same coverage. If someone claims they can, they are quoting something other than the premium.

The schedule has two columns. The Sale Rate applies to owner’s policies on a purchase. The Non-Sale Rate, which is lower, applies to loan policies — which is what a refinance gets. Pennsylvania has no separate “reissue rate”; the Non-Sale column does that job.

Buying and financing at the same time

When an owner’s policy and a loan policy are issued together on the same property, the schedule treats them as a single policy and charges the Sale Rate on whichever has the higher limit. There is no second premium for the lender’s policy. Estimates that add one are overstating your costs, often by more than a thousand dollars.

Realty transfer tax is where Pennsylvania gets expensive

The Commonwealth charges 1% of the sale price. On top of that, the municipality and the school district each levy their own. In most of Allegheny County that adds another 1%, for 2% all in. But it is genuinely local:

• Most boroughs and townships — 2% total
• McKeesport City and Penn Hills — 3%
• City of Pittsburgh — 5%

On a $300,000 sale that is the difference between $6,000 and $15,000. It is customarily split between buyer and seller, though the contract governs and it is negotiable. Our Pennsylvania calculator carries the rate for every municipality in the county.

What else appears on a Pennsylvania settlement statement

• Recording fees, charged by the county Department of Real Estate
• A closing protection letter, at the filed charge
• Settlement and search fees
• Prorated property taxes and any HOA dues
• Lender charges, if the purchase is financed