What is title insurance?
Owner’s title insurance ensures that, when the purchase is closed, the buyer is the owner of and has marketable title to the property, access to the home, and there are no liens, claims, or restrictions on the buyer’s property, other than the mortgage the buyer agrees to pay. If the preliminary title search uncovers potential problems, a buyer can require that those problems be satisfactory dealt with before closing on the home.
Owner’s title insurance is one of the most affordable insurance policies a person can ever buy. Unlike other forms of insurance, the is only a one-time fee at closing for the policy, which financially protects the buyer’s investment for as long as the buyer or buyer’s heirs own the home.
Why is it important to have it?
Owner’s title insurance protects the buyers against myriad of risks that not even the most careful title search can uncover, including things such forged documents, undisclosed or missing heirs of previous owners, fraud, will disputes, and unrecorded claims of many types.
Without owner’s title insurance, the legal cost to resolve such title claims could easily be in the tens of thousands of dollars and would have to be paid out-of-pocket, not to mention the stress that such situations would cause to the parties to the transaction.