Title Insurance protects your property rights. Title insurance policies protect homeowners from issues arising from various defects in their ownership of the property that were not identified or cured prior to closing Some examples of title defects include outstanding and unpaid property taxes by the previous owner, fraud, or forgery in a deed, unknown heirs or spousal issues.
Title insurance is an indemnity agreement between an insured owner or lender and the title insurance company providing coverage under the title policy. Should a claim be made against the title, without the appropriate owner’s coverage, defending the claim or curing the defect potentially could cost you as the homeowner thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees and costs. Additionally, you could lose your property. A title insurance policy covers the cost of a legal defense, as well as any amount of a covered loss up to the limits of the policy, which is ordinarily the purchase price of the property and in some cases up to 150 percent of that amount.
In most cases, we are able to offer two types of title insurance – Standard and Limited, each of which are priced according to filed rates with the state in which your property is located. Standard title insurance covers everything that the Limited policy covers plus a large number of other potential problems, including errors that could occur after you purchase real estate. Standard coverage provides more financial protection in the event that you need to file a claim by ensuring the property for its value as of the time the claim is made up to 150% of its original purchase price.
Click here to review an easy to read comparison chart of the coverages offered by both types of policies.
Title Insurance Resources
Below are some publications which share additional information about Title Insurance.
You may also call any of our offices to understand more about Owner’s Title insurance and how it protects homebuyers’ property rights.
We are licensed title insurance agents for some of the nation’s largest and most secure title insurance underwriters, including First American Title Insurance Company, our underwriter. If you have any questions about title insurance coverage please feel free to contact us.