Recording fees can be paid by either party and are charged by the government (either state or federal) for entering the official record of the change of ownership of a property. This fee is required by the government for the recording of the deed.

So what does that mean in simple terms? Basically you have to pay the government to recognize and record the change of ownership of the property.

Depending on the contract, this can be payed by either party, but the seller typically pays the majority by default. The title services and attorney fees can be combined if an attorney does the title search in place of either party.

This is a required service for commercial lenders and is often seen in real estate contracts.

We’ve already talked, in general terms, about what can be included in closing costs, so now we’re going to start a series of posts talking about those costs individually, starting off with attorney fees.

Either or both parties can pay these and the fee is typically for the lawyers to prepare and record official documents. There can be more than one attorney as each person/party/principal involved can have their own attorney present This fee is most commonly see in commercial lending situations to ensure the documents are prepared correctly.