A recent claim by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) that attorneys charge more than non-attorney settlement agents to close residential real estate loans is being disputed by the Real Estate Attorneys Coalition for Housing (REACH).

REACH is basing its claim on the results of a study based on a detailed survey of 1,260 residential borrowers across the country.

The study, which was directed by Michael Kemp of CRA International, an economics and business consulting firm, finds that closing costs are influenced by a wide range of factors, and that it is rare either for the type of firm performing the settlement or for regulatory considerations to be the most important influences on costs.

These results do not provide support for the FTC and DOJ position, set out in widely circulated letters and amicus briefs, that contends that regulatory regimes such as "unauthorized practice of law" rules are anti-competitive and result in higher costs to consumers, according to REACH. But the new study’s findings are consistent with previous research performed by HUD and the Veterans Administration in 1970 and by Peat, Marwick, Mitchell in 1980.