Title Insurance

Our aim in the industry is to serve our clients as best as we can. We ensure that we keep them up to date with all the recent trends in the insurance world and help them know how they can serve them. Our recent point of interest is the real estate title insurance. However, before we tell you to sign up for it, let us educate you more on what this policy is and why every property owner needs it.

What is title insurance?

Title insurance is a type of insurance policy aimed to protect the interest of property owners in the case of loss of ownership to the property. This can occur due to the defect of titles for the property.

Most of the times people mistake the real estate title insurance for homeowners’ insurance. No, they are not the same. A title loan does not protect your home from any sort of damages for example from floods, fire, or natural disasters. The policy protects your property from ownership problems. It helps you to keep your property safe and helps you avoid losing the property to ownership problems you didn’t know before buying the property.

There are two different kinds of title insurance policies:

1. Owners insurance policy
2. Lenders insurance policy

The owners policy is the most common type. Owners’ policy is taken by the seller of the property at the request of the buyer. This is optional because but it can be necessary. It is aimed to protect the buyer of the property in case the same incident occurs the other way round.

Why the owners policy is necessary

As you go to acquire new property, you may be at risk of frauds and losing your money and investment. This policy ensures that every transaction you make while acquiring new property is well insured in case of the following incidences.

Most of the times you may encounter title problems coming from the following issues.

• Fraud
• Errors or omissions on the title deeds
• Undisclosed heirs
• Forgery of a title deed

All these issues could lead to problems while transferring title ownership. It could harm you and your investments if you hadn’t insured those transactions. Most of this issues are not present at the time of buying the property. It can be impossible to spot this problem at the moment but this issues can arise after you buy the property then lose it in a court of law. To be on the safe side, the owners’ insurance policy can cover you.

The lenders’ policy, on the other hand, is taken by the borrower but its main purpose is to protect the lender. Before the lender can loan you anything, they may require the lenders’ policy to protect them in the case of any unseen problems in the title ownership transfer. The policy should be enough to cover the full loan and it decreases as the loan is paid.

Why you should consider taking a real estate title insurance policy

Now that you know what a title insurance is, you may be wondering why you should take one. Here is why.

It protects your investments

We can all agree that a person’s home is one of the most important properties they have. This is evident by how far people are willing to go to protect their homes. Well to further secure your home, you need a title insurance. Loss of ownership poses a greater threat than theft or water damage. That is why you should make sure your investment is safe and nobody can take it from you at any time.

This is also why an owners’ policy costs more than the lenders’ policy. It gives you more control and safeguards your home. Remember that a lot can happen to the title of your home. Defects such as:

• Ownership claims by unknown heirs
• Invalid documents from forgery and fraud
• Ownership not fully authorized by important entities of the property
• Documents not properly signed or witnessed

All this title defects could lead to title ownership problems that make you vulnerable to lose your property.

Another frequently asked question is where you can buy a title insurance policy. Title insurance policies should only be bought from trusted and bonded insurance companies. This happens to be our area of expertise and we can help you choose the right policy for you. Our team can also educate you further and answer some of the questions you may still have about title insurance.

It is always advisable to stay on the safe side while making transactions. A simple error or omission can cause you so many problems in the future. Increasing rates of frauds should also motivate you to stay a step ahead of fraudsters by protecting yourself from them. Keep your investment safe by getting a title insurance policy.

At Alpine Legal Title we offer expertise in every area of real estate closings, title insurance and escrow services. Give our office a call at 801-214-9200 to set up a free consultation or just to ask a question.