How to Choose a Title Company in St. Louis (Missouri vs Illinois)

Revised August 16, 2026

Imagine it’s a Tuesday evening in Belleville and you just went under contract on a house in Kirkwood. Your agent’s email says the title company will reach out. You read that line twice. The last house you bought was on the Illinois side, and your attorney ran all of it — the review, the objections, the table. Nobody has said the word attorney to you once.

Fifteen miles north, someone in Florissant is refinancing and just got quoted for a title policy they’re sure they already paid for in 2019. Out in St. Charles, a first-time buyer stares at four title lines on a Loan Estimate, wondering whether those numbers are fixed by law or just set by the lender.

Three confusions, one gap underneath them. The title company is the party most buyers never choose on purpose, and it’s the one deciding whether you actually own what you just wired money for. Here’s what it does, what changes when you cross the Mississippi, and how to pick your own.

Can you pick your own title company, or are you stuck with the one you were handed?

You can almost always pick. Federal law bars a seller from requiring, as a condition of selling, that you buy title insurance from a particular company when a federally related mortgage is involved. That’s RESPA Section 9, codified at 12 U.S.C. 2608, and a seller who breaks it is liable to the buyer for “three times all charges made for such title insurance.”

Your lender adds a layer. If it lets you shop for a settlement service, it must hand you a written list of providers. Choose from that list and the charge falls under the 10% cumulative tolerance — the lender eats any overage past that. Go off-list and the protection doesn’t apply.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau puts it plainly: “If you shop for title insurance, you could save money.” And if your agent or lender owns a piece of the company they’re steering you toward, RESPA requires a written Affiliated Business Arrangement disclosure under 12 CFR 1024.15 before the referral — and you cannot be required to use that affiliate. A referral is a recommendation, not an assignment.

What is the purpose of a title company?

Four jobs, in order: search the public record for everything filed against the property, examine what turns up, insure the result, and run the money. Most of it happens weeks before anyone sits at a table.

The search produces a title commitment. Schedule A says who owns the property and what’s being insured. Schedule B-I lists requirements — what must be fixed before a policy issues. Schedule B-II lists exceptions — what the policy will never cover. That second list is the one nobody reads and the one that bites later.

Then comes curative work: chasing a release for a loan paid off years ago, getting a lien satisfied, untangling an estate. The company also holds earnest money, the lender’s wire and your cash to close in escrow, disburses at closing, and records the deed and the new deed of trust or mortgage. Section 381.058 RSMo requires a Missouri insurer to issue a closing protection letter to buyer, lender and seller in every residential deal where its agent handles settlement.

Why does an Illinois closing involve a lawyer when a Missouri one usually doesn’t?

Two courts, one on each side of the river, drew the line differently. Neither state requires an attorney at a residential closing by statute; what differs is what a non-lawyer may do once the contract is signed.

In Illinois, the state Supreme Court decided Chicago Bar Association v. Quinlan & Tyson, Inc. on January 25, 1966: a broker may fill in the blanks on a customary contract form, but drawing the deed and the other instruments used to clear and transfer title is the practice of law, and a non-lawyer cannot do it. That’s still why an Illinois deed comes off an attorney’s desk. The standard Illinois residential contract also carries an attorney-review clause, commonly five business days from acceptance, in which either side’s lawyer can approve it, propose changes or terminate.

Missouri drew it wider. In In re First Escrow, Inc., decided October 27, 1992, the Missouri Supreme Court held escrow companies may fill in the blanks of standardized forms Missouri attorneys prepared or reviewed, under supervision and as agent for a party with a direct financial interest — but may not draft documents, choose the form, or give legal advice.

So a Metro East closing usually seats your attorney, the seller’s attorney and the title company. A Missouri closing seats a closer and no lawyer at all. Illinois also taxes the transfer at 50 cents per $500 of value, counties permitted to add 25 cents per $500, declared through MyDec. Missouri charges nothing on the deed: since November 2, 2010, Article X, Section 25 of its constitution has barred the state, counties and political subdivisions from “imposing any new tax, including a sales tax, on the sale or transfer of homes or any other real estate.”

Nothing to do with closing costs — find a gym you will actually use.

What does title insurance cover, and what does it not?

It covers what already happened before you bought, not what happens after. A standard owner’s policy insures against someone else holding an ownership interest in your land, a forged or improperly executed document in the chain of title, undisclosed liens like unpaid taxes or a prior owner’s contractor lien, undisclosed heirs with a claim, an easement nobody mentioned, and title so defective you can’t sell it.

The exclusions are short and they matter. Governmental regulation, including building and zoning rules, is not covered. Neither is eminent domain, nor any matter you created or agreed to, nor a defect you knew about and didn’t disclose in writing before the policy date, nor anything that first attaches afterward. Add every item on Schedule B of your commitment, because a listed exception is not insured. And unlike every other policy you own, you pay once, at closing.

Lender’s policy or owner’s policy — which are you actually buying?

If you’re financing, you’re buying the lender’s policy whether you want it or not, and the owner’s policy is the optional one. The lender’s policy insures the bank for the loan amount and shrinks as you pay the balance down. The owner’s policy insures you, for the purchase price, as long as you or your heirs hold an interest.

That’s why your Loan Estimate prints “(optional)” beside the owner’s premium when the lender isn’t requiring it — a labeling rule, not a hint you don’t need it. The CFPB’s own line: “You may want to buy an owner’s title insurance policy, which can help protect your financial investment in the home.” Buy both at once and ask for the simultaneous-issue rate.

Who pays for the title company at closing?

Custom, not law — and custom is only a default until somebody writes something different into the contract. Neither state assigns the cost. On the Missouri side the seller commonly buys the owner’s policy while the buyer covers the lender’s policy and loan-related title charges, and Illinois practice also tends to put the owner’s policy on the seller. Both patterns bend by county, price point and how hot the market runs.

So don’t assume: the contract decides it and the Closing Disclosure proves it. For the dollar side, our breakdown of what closing costs actually cost in St. Louis walks the line items.

What does a title search turn up on a hundred-year-old St. Louis house?

Usually paperwork, not drama. Four findings stall more metro closings than anything else: a deed of trust paid off years ago but never released of record, a mechanic’s lien from a contractor who was never paid, an easement running through the yard nobody remembered, and a gap in the chain where an owner died and the estate was never properly closed.

St. Louis makes that work older than most places. The city’s land records reach into the French and Spanish colonial period — the archived grants and deeds include documents from 1766, decades before the Louisiana Purchase. A brick two-family in Affton can sit on a hundred and twenty years of recorded instruments, and every one had to be right.

The metro also isn’t one record system. A house hunt can cross the recorders of St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles and Jefferson counties in Missouri plus St. Clair, Madison and Monroe in Illinois. A company that’s fast in one county isn’t automatically fast in the next. Ask where they actually close.

What this business looks like from the other side of the counter

The premium is a one-time charge, and most of it never reaches the underwriter — in most states the agency keeps roughly 70% to 85% and remits the balance. That retention isn’t margin. It buys the search, the examination and the curative work, which is where the hours go. Title loss ratios sit in the low single digits, around 5.1% as of December 2024, because the model is preventing a claim rather than paying one. Escrow balances don’t pay the agency interest either; they earn bank credits that offset banking fees. And the calendar is brutal in one specific way: buyers close late in the month to shave per-diem interest, so the last few business days carry a share of volume wildly out of proportion. Referrals can’t be bought — RESPA Section 8 sees to that — so agencies compete on turn time and on never blowing a date. When a buyer or agent hunts for a closer in a county you actually cover, being listed and complete is how they find you.

What should you ask before you commit to a title company?

Five questions, asked before you agree to anything, beat any review site.

• What’s the all-in number, in writing? Premium, settlement fee, search and exam, wire and recording — one page you can set beside another company’s for the same address.
• Which underwriter do you write for, and will my lender accept it? Ask for the closing protection letter in the same breath.
• Who is my closer, and what’s their direct number? A human name before there’s a problem, not after.
• How will you send wire instructions, and what number do I call to verify? The FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Report counted $2.77 billion in business email compromise losses across 21,442 complaints, and closings are a named target. Never take wiring instructions from an email.
• In Illinois: are you coordinating with my attorney, and who drafts the deed? A vague answer is your answer.

You’re entitled to the Closing Disclosure three business days before consummation. Use them to read Schedule B of the commitment, and if a fee moved since the Loan Estimate, ask which tolerance bucket it lives in.

Related reading: who manages it afterwards and renovating what you just bought.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a title company to buy a house in Missouri?

If you’re getting a mortgage, effectively yes. The lender will require a lender’s title policy, and somebody has to search title, hold escrow and record the documents. Missouri lets a title or escrow company run the closing without an attorney, within the limits the Missouri Supreme Court set in In re First Escrow, Inc. in 1992. A cash buyer can technically skip it and almost never should.

Who chooses the title company, buyer or seller?

You do, in almost every financed purchase. RESPA Section 9, at 12 U.S.C. 2608, bars a seller from requiring as a condition of sale that you buy title insurance from a particular company, and a violating seller owes the buyer three times all charges made for that title insurance. A seller or an agent can suggest a company, not require one.

Do you need a real estate attorney to buy a house in Illinois?

No statute requires one, but Illinois practice effectively does. Under Chicago Bar Association v. Quinlan & Tyson, Inc., decided in 1966, drawing the deed and the instruments used to clear and transfer title is the practice of law, so a non-lawyer can’t prepare them. The standard residential contract also carries an attorney-review window, commonly five business days from acceptance. Metro East buyers should budget for a lawyer.

What should a title company not do?

Give you legal advice. Missouri limits an escrow company to filling in blanks on attorney-prepared forms — no drafting, no choosing the form — and Illinois puts the deed on an attorney’s desk. Under RESPA Section 8 it also cannot pay anyone for your referral.

Who pays for the title company at closing?

Custom, not law. On the Missouri side the seller commonly buys the owner’s policy while the buyer covers the lender’s policy and loan-related title charges, and Illinois practice leans the same way. The contract decides it; the Closing Disclosure proves it.

Can I get my money back from a title company?

Sometimes. The closing protection letter is the underwriter’s promise to make you whole, up to the settlement funds, if the settlement agent steals them, commits fraud or ignores written closing instructions. Separately, a seller who required their own company owes you three times those title insurance charges.

Is owner’s title insurance worth it?

It’s the only policy in the stack protecting your equity rather than the bank’s. The lender’s policy pays the lender and shrinks as the loan amortizes; yours covers the purchase price for as long as you hold an interest, with no renewal and no annual bill. It’s cheapest bought alongside the lender’s policy at the simultaneous-issue rate.

What is a closing protection letter?

It’s the underwriter’s promise to make you whole, up to the settlement funds, if the settlement agent steals that money, commits fraud with it, or ignores written closing instructions. Missouri requires the insurer to issue one to buyer, lender and seller in residential transactions under Section 381.058 RSMo. Ask for a copy rather than assuming it exists.

Do I need new title insurance when I refinance?

You need a new lender’s policy, because the old loan is paid off and the policy insuring it retires along with it. You do not buy a second owner’s policy — the one from your purchase stays in force as long as you own the home. Ask whether a reissue or refinance rate applies; many companies discount the new lender’s policy when prior coverage exists.

About the Author: The St Louis Near Me Directory Team
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.

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