Jameson Stone Law runs its own closings across Central Pennsylvania, and Daniel Jameson leads the real estate work. In most transactions a title company handles settlement and a lawyer sits somewhere in the background, if at all. Here the attorney reviewing the title is the same person closing the deal.
The Regulated Price
Title insurance in Pennsylvania is not something to shop around on price, because the price is fixed. The Title Insurance Rating Bureau of Pennsylvania sets the premium, the Insurance Department approves it, and every title company charges the identical rate for the identical policy. A provider promising a cheaper premium is either mistaken or adding fees elsewhere.
What that means is simple and most buyers never hear it. Since the policy costs the same wherever you take it, the only real difference between providers is who conducts the settlement and how well they do it. You are choosing a settlement agent, not a price, and in Pennsylvania the buyer generally has the right to choose. Choosing an attorney to fill that role costs you nothing extra on the premium.
Approved Attorneys
This is the part that surprises people. The TIRBOP rate manual contains a reduced rate that applies specifically when a qualifying attorney is involved in the transaction. Jameson Stone Law closes as Approved Attorneys, which means the legal oversight of your settlement can come at a lower title cost rather than a higher one.
Set that against how it usually goes. A buyer pays the full regulated premium to a title company, and if a legal question comes up during the closing, the company cannot answer it because it is not a law firm. Here the attorney and the settlement agent are the same office. A defect in the chain of title, an odd clause in the deed, or a lien nobody expected is a question your closing agent is actually qualified to resolve, at the table rather than after it.
The Search
The title search is the part of a closing nobody sees and everybody relies on. It traces the ownership of the property back through the record to confirm the seller can actually convey what they are selling, and to surface anything attached to the property that would come with it. Unpaid taxes, a contractor’s lien, an old mortgage never properly satisfied, an easement running through the yard, or an error in a deed from decades ago.
Most of what it finds is routine and gets cleared before closing. Some of it is not, and that is where having a lawyer run the search rather than a clerk earns its place. A judgment against a former owner with a similar name, a break in the chain of title, or a boundary that does not match the survey are legal problems, and resolving them is legal work. The policy then protects you against the defects the search could not have found.
What We Handle
Tracing the chain of ownership and surfacing liens, easements and defects before they reach closing.
Issuing the policy at the regulated rate, with the Approved Attorney reduction where it applies.
Conducting the closing itself, with the attorney who reviewed the title at the table.
Resolving liens, judgments and chain-of-title problems the search turns up, as legal work rather than paperwork.
Our Process
01
We trace the ownership record, pull the liens and judgments, and identify anything attached to the property that needs clearing.
Most items are routine and handled before closing; the legal ones get resolved by the attorney rather than referred out.
We conduct the settlement, issue the policy at the regulated rate, and record the deed so it is effective against everyone.
Title and settlement is the part of buying a property that most people understand least, partly because it is usually handled by whoever the agent or lender suggested, without anyone explaining that there was a choice to be made or a cost to compare.
No. In Pennsylvania the buyer generally has the right to choose the settlement agent, and a recommendation is not an instruction. There is nothing wrong with the company your realtor named, but it is worth knowing the choice was yours to make. Because the title insurance premium is fixed by the state and identical everywhere, choosing a different provider does not cost you more on the policy. What changes is who runs your closing and whether that person can answer a legal question if one comes up. That is the whole basis on which the decision should be made.
Generally not, and it can be less. The title insurance premium is set by TIRBOP and does not change based on who the settlement agent is, so the legal oversight does not add to it. The rate manual also contains a reduced rate that applies when a qualifying attorney is involved, and Jameson Stone Law closes as Approved Attorneys. So the comparison most people assume, a cheap title company against an expensive lawyer, is not the comparison that actually exists. You are getting an attorney at the table for a title cost that is the same or lower.
It depends what kind of problem, and most are minor. An unpaid tax bill or an old mortgage that was paid but never formally satisfied is cleared with paperwork before closing. The ones that matter are the legal defects: a lien against the property, a judgment attaching to a former owner, a gap in the chain of ownership, or a boundary that does not match the deed. Those need resolving rather than noting, and having the attorney who found the problem be the one who fixes it keeps the closing moving instead of stalling while it gets referred somewhere else.
The premium is the same wherever you go, so the only question worth asking is who you want running the settlement and whether they can handle a legal problem if one appears. Daniel Jameson leads the firm’s real estate work, and the first conversation costs nothing.