Title insurance and closings in West Palm Beach
The short answer
Bayit Title LLC is a Florida title company closing in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, from our office in Coral Springs. We search and examine title, issue the policy, hold the escrow and run the closing for residential and commercial property, with signings in our office, wherever the signer is in West Palm Beach, or by remote online notarization. In Palm Beach County the owner’s policy is customarily paid for by the seller, though the contract controls. The premium is promulgated statewide; the deed stamp rate and the recording office are Palm Beach County’s.
What title insurance costs on a West Palm Beach purchase
Florida title insurance premiums are set by the Office of Insurance Regulation under Fla. Stat. § 627.782, so the premium on a West Palm Beach policy is the same figure it would be anywhere in the state. On a $500,000 purchase the owner’s policy is $2,575; where the reissue conditions in the rule are met it is $1,530; and the rule sets $25 as the least a lender’s policy issued at the same time for the same or a lesser amount can be. That $25 is a minimum, not a price: Bayit Title charges $125 to issue the policy alongside the owner’s, and that is the figure the estimate prints. Where the loan is larger than the owner’s amount, the coverage above it adds the difference between the original rate at the loan amount and at the owner’s amount.
The Florida title insurance calculator prints the whole schedule with the rule beside it, and the closing cost calculator prices a specific West Palm Beach address off the Palm Beach County property appraiser’s record.
Who pays for the owner’s policy in West Palm Beach?
Custom in Palm Beach County, and so in West Palm Beach, is that the seller pays for the owner’s policy. Custom is not law: the purchase contract decides it, and in a negotiated deal either side can end up paying. Read the contract before assuming which line it falls on.
Documentary stamp tax on a West Palm Beach sale
The deed is taxed by the state at the rate that applies in Palm Beach County. This is the rate in 66 of the 67 counties; Miami-Dade is the exception.
- Documentary stamp tax on the deed
- 70¢ per $100 of consideration, or part of $100 Charged on each part of $100, so the figure rounds up, not down. Fla. Stat. § 201.02(1)(a)
On a $500,000 West Palm Beach sale that is $3,500 in deed stamps. A $400,000 mortgage carries $1,400 in mortgage stamps and $800 in intangible tax, and a cash purchase carries neither. Which side pays each is decided by the purchase contract.
Where a West Palm Beach deed is recorded
West Palm Beach is in Palm Beach County, so the deed and mortgage are recorded with the Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, not with the city. Recording is charged by the page at a rate the statute sets for every clerk in Florida:
- Recording, first page
- $10.00 $5.00 service charge, plus $1.00 to the Public Records Modernization Trust Fund, plus $4.00. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)(a), (d)1., (e)
- Recording, each page after the first
- $8.50 $4.00 service charge, plus 50¢ to the trust fund, plus $4.00. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)(b), (d)2., (e)
- Indexing, per name over four
- $1.00 Reached by a deed with several grantors, or by a mortgage naming a trust. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)(c)
On turnaround, the Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller publishes this:
"We cannot guarantee documents will be recorded on the same day that we receive them." "Notices of Commencement are normally recorded within one business day when submitted electronically." Walk-in recording appears under the heading "Same Day Recording": "Except for designated holidays. Present documents in person at the following locations, Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m." (five locations listed).
That is the office’s published statement, not a time we can promise. On a file where the recording date matters, ask us what the office is actually doing that week.
The municipal lien search in West Palm Beach
A title search reads the county’s official records. It does not show what the City of West Palm Beach knows about the property: open or expired permits, code enforcement cases, unpaid utility balances and special assessments. Those are found by a separate municipal lien search directed to the city itself, and we order one on every file. What it turns up goes to you in writing, with what clearing it would take, as soon as it comes back.
How a signing happens in West Palm Beach
A West Palm Beach signer can come to our office in Coral Springs, or we send a notary to them — a kitchen table, an office, wherever they are. Remote online notarization is the third way, for a signer who is not in West Palm Beach on the day. The closer who prepared the file is reachable during the signing whichever way it happens.
Premium read from Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003 on September 14, 2026. Taxes and recording charges read from the statutes on September 14, 2026 and linked line by line above. Tell us if a figure here does not match what you are quoted and we will check it against the source again.