Frequently Asked Questions

A title search is a detailed examination of all public records that involve title to a specific property. It is conducted to verify that the seller has the right to sell the property and that there are no liens or other claims outstanding.

Title insurance is a policy that protects the insured from financial loss due to defects in the title of a property. It covers errors in public records, liens, encumbrances, and other issues that may impact ownership rights.

Closing costs are fees associated with the purchase of a property that are paid at the closing. They can include appraisal fees, title search fees, attorney fees, recording fees, and other charges.

Unlike other forms of insurance, the original premium is your only cost as long as you own the property. There are no annual payments to keep your owner's Title Insurance Policy in force. If you refinance, a new lender may require a new policy but ask us about a re-issue credit that GREATLY decreases the associated costs. 

Purchasers and lenders need title insurance to know the property they are buying is insured against various possible title defects. The insurance policy protects the lender and the buyer. Whether it’s a sale, refinance, construction loan…the seller, buyer and lender all benefit. Add an answer to this item.

The insurance policy protects you in two main ways. First, the insurance company promises to defend your title in court whenever necessary – at their expense. Second, if there is a cost to settle your claim, should a valid claim against your ownership exist, the insurance company will bear the cost of settlement. 

• Bankruptcies
• Clearing Liens, Judgments
• Clearing Child/Spousal Support Liens
• Common Names
• Clearing Liens, Judgments
• Disclosures
• Establishing Fact of Death-Joint Tenancy
• Foreclosures
• Probates
• Use of, Proper Execution of Power of Attorney
• Family Trust
• Business Trusts
• Recent Construction
• Physical Inspection Findings-Encroachments, Off-Record Easements
• Proper Execution of Documents
• Proper Jurats, Notary Seals
• Transfers/Loans Involving Corporations/Partnerships
• Last Minute Changes in Buyers
• Last Minute Changes in Coverage

Most lenders generate loans and then immediately sell those loans to secondary market investors, such as FannieMae. FannieMae, in order to protect its security interest in the loan, requires title insurance coverage. Even those lenders who keep original loans in their portfolio are wise to get a lender’s policy to protect its investment against title related defects. 

You may not know the owner as well as you think you do. People undergo changes in their personal lives that may affect their title to their property. People get divorced, change their wills, engage in transactions that limit the use of the property and have liens and judgments placed against them personally for various reasons. There may also be matters affecting the property that are not obvious or known, even by the existing owner, which a title search and examination seeks to uncover as part of the process leading up to the issuance of the title insurance policy. Just as you wouldn’t make an investment based on a phone call, you sshouldn’tbuy real property without assurances as to your title. Title insurance provides these assurances. The process of risk identification and elimination performed by the title companies, prior to the issuance of a title policy, benefits all parties in the property transaction. It minimizes the chances that adverse claims might be raised, and by doing so reduces the number of claims that need to be defended or satisfied. This process keeps costs and expenses down for the title company and maintains the traditional low cost of title insurance. 

Title insurance protects against claims from title defects. Defects are things such as another person claiming an ownership interest, improperly recorded documents, fraud, forgery, liens, encroachments, easements and other items that are specified in the insurance policy.