Valley Real Estate

Protect Your Investment

You've just been handed the deed to the home of your dreams. But most buyers are unaware that getting the deed to a home and the land on which it sits does not always mean the real estate is totally theirs. Other people, going all the way back to the first owner of the property may have certain legal rights or claims that have not yet been extinguished, or remain 'hidden.'

You want to be sure you will be, and will remain, the one true owner. You want to be sure that there will be no claims or liens against your new home — other than your mortgage loan agreement. And further, if a hidden claim should arise attacking your complete ownership, you want to be successfully defended against that claim, and/or reimbursed for any monetary loss that may occur as a result.

 Title insurance will do just that.

Lender's Title Policy

The lender's Title Policy (sometimes called a Loan Policy) will protect the lender against prior claims or liens against the property. Most lenders today will require you to purchase a loan title policy to protect their investment should you default on the mortgage payments and the home goes into foreclosure.

BE AWARE:  Although you may pay for it, the Lender's Policy affords NO protection for you. If you want to protect your interest in the property you just bought, you must obtain a separate policy called the Owner's Title Policy.

Owner's Title Policy

An owner’s title insurance policy does two things. First it describes the property as it exists and reports any and all existing liens and encumbrances on the property. These, it defines as 'limitations.' If you then purchase the property, you understand that your purchase  includes these ownership limitations.

Secondly, your owner’s title insurance will protect you against what you don’t know. Remember, even a newly built home sits on land with a very long history of ownership, the details of which may not have been revealed in the best of title searches. It is for these 'hidden risks' that an owners policy is so very important.

Every time a parcel is bought and sold, there is a very real chance for an error in recording the transfer of ownership. Therefore, if a hidden 'defect' in one of these transfers, known as the 'chain of title' rears it's ugly head,  you could lose both the property and the money you paid for it!

In our area it customary for the seller of the property to provide what is known as a 'warranty' deed. The HomeTeam will make sure that that your purchase contract specifies it. A basic owner's title policy is part and parcel to the warranty deed.

Title insurance will:

• Protects you from monetary loss due to claims (not originally defined) against your title, up to the face amount of the policy.
• Pay any and all legal fees and court costs if the title insurance company is required to defend your title against covered claims in a lawsuit.
• Should the suit be successful, it will pay  judgments against your title, up to the face amount of the policy.
• Continue protection after you no longer own the property.

If you are still not sure you need title insurance, here are just a few of the 'hidden risks' against which, you will be protected:

• False impersonation of the true owner
• Confusion caused by similar names
• Forged deeds and other documents
• Signatures of minors or people who are not mentally competent
• Signatures of people represented as single but who are actually married
• Errors in recording legal documents
• Clerical errors in public records
• Undisclosed or missing heirs
• Invalid documents executed under an expired power of attorney
• Fraud
• Invalid divorces
• Unpaid child support lien
• Unpaid taxes (local, state, federal)
• Unrecorded easements (rights of way)
• The list goes on