RealPro Escrow Service Helps Protect Our Consumers
When our members pay for services from our Service Providers, you have the option to choose several payment options, including our Escrow Payment service powered by Escrow.com.
What does “escrow” mean?
An escrow is a financial and legal agreement designed to protect Buyers and Sellers in a transaction. For a fee, an independent third party holds payment until everyone fulfills their responsibilities in the transaction. With an escrow payment, the Seller will only receive the funds when the Buyer has received and accepted the products and/or services that are part of the transaction. However, the Seller knows they will receive payment because Escrow.com is holding the funds on their behalf.
How does it work?
Buyer Accepts Quote from Vendor
Buyer Submits Payment to Escrow
Vendor requests Payment for a completed milestone
Buyer Agrees milestone is complete
Escrow.com releases payment to vendor
For larger projects like a bath remodel, our service providers will set up a set of Milestones with related payments. If you choose to use the escrow system, you will put the funds for the project in escrow, but they will only be released after you agree the various milestones have been completed. This protects the consumer from fraud or failure to meet contractual obligations, and for the service provider, the use of the escrow service assures them that the funds are there to pay for the project. So, it is a win-win scenario.
How much does it cost?
RealPro does not add any markup to the fees charged by Escrow.com for this valuable service. The escrow.com fee chart is below.
| Transaction Amount | Standard Fee using ACH or Wire Transfer | Additional Payment Processing Fee if using Credit Card or PayPal |
| $0-$5,000 | 3.25% ($10.00 minimum) | Standard fee + 3.05% |
| $5,000.01-$25,000 | $162.50 + 0.26% of amount over $5000 | Not available |
| $25,000.01 + | 0.89% | Not available |
For a $5000 project, the escrow fee would be $162.50 for ACH / wire transfer which is a small price to pay for the security and safety of using escrow for your payments.
The RealPro billing / payments section will give you the choice of payment methods when you agree to pay your service provider. Consider whether the protection from using escrow is worth small extra cost to secure that extra peace of mind.