More on Mortgage Tax savings and a caveat

I just wanted to add to yesterday's post that when refinancing, a CEMA should always be utilized. Many people refinance directly with their current lender or through a mortgage broker and very often, if not most often, the lender or the mortgage broker does not disclose the CEMA option. Make it a point to insist that a CEMA be utilized in your refinance.

Now, a word of caution. There are companies out there, as well as lawyers and mortgage brokers who advertise that they can save you money on the mortgage tax. What they will do is arrange for a CEMA on your loan and charge you a percentage of your savings as their fee. I am not sure if this is legal but it is definitely not ethical and anyone who wants a percentage of your savings as a fee should be avoided. This includes lawyers. Lawyers deserve a fee for work they do, but a real estate transaction is not a personal injury case. I will be posting more about the lawyer's role in the future but I will tell you now, a lawyer's fee for a real estate transaction should be a flat fee or an hourly fee (I Only charge flat fees) but definitely not a contingency fee.