Title insurance protects you against covered title defects, such as a previous owner’s debt, forgeries, liens, and other claims of ownership that may have occurred prior to you purchasing your home.

“Title” gives the person the right to ownership to a certain piece of real estate property. A title report is required in a home purchase or refinance transaction.

The title search is typically one of the first steps in our process. A title search involves researching the public records to uncover possible title defects and associated risks that affect the ownership rights to the property being purchased, including liens, assessments and judgments. A title search must be completed before a title commitment is issued.

A title commitment is effectively a promise to issue a title policy after closing, and contains the terms, conditions and exclusions that will be in the actual title insurance policy. The title commitment also identifies requirements and title defects that need to be addressed prior to closing so that the title policy can be issued.

Liens are a legal claim that gives creditors a right to keep possession of property belonging to another person until a debt owed by that person is paid. If a contractor was never paid for work completed by the previous owner, they may have put a lien on the property. If that lien isn’t discovered during a title search, it would be your responsibility to resolve it once you become the property owner.

A defect is an issue with the property title that impacts the transfer of property ownership. A previous owner might have forged a signature or not paid real estate taxes, and defects like that might go undiscovered in the title search process. If you have title insurance, you won’t be responsible for dealing with any claims and legal fees associated with undiscovered defects — your title company will.

If a lien is uncovered on the property and the lien was, for example, filed by a contractor who performed work and was never paid, we will work with the contractor and the seller on a resolution. The resolution may involve the seller paying off the debt. If the seller doesn’t have the money to pay the debt, we may negotiate to wrap the cost of the debt into the seller’s closing costs — ultimately deducting the expense from the home sale proceeds. Don’t worry, our professionals work with the stakeholders directly to resolve the stickier issues until we achieve clear title.

The goal of a title search is to produce “clear title”. A clear title is a title that is without liens, poses no question to legal ownership and is marketable to future sellers.

Yes, and you should absolutely shop around to find the best rate. Your real estate agent may recommend a specific title company, but you have the right to choose your title provider.

We would be happy to answer any additional questions you have. Please go to the contact us page and we will respond to your request within 24 hours.