What is Title Insurance and Why is it Important?

The first question you may ask is, what is the title? The title to a piece of property is the evidence that the owner is in lawful possession of that property. 

Secondly, what is title insurance? Title insurance protects homeowners against any property loss or damage they might experience because of liens, encumbrances or defects in the title of the property. While other types of insurance protect you from the risks that are possible to occur in the future, title insurance protects you from risks associated with what has already occurred.

There are two policies in the mix at a real estate closing, The lender’s policy, which is required, and an optional owner’s policy. Both are a 1 time, upfront cost.

A title search will occur during your closing process to check out the owner’s history and to make sure the title is clear – which means the current owner who is selling you the property, has complete ownership with no legal claims against it.

Why does title insurance exist? Well, there is not a 100% guarantee that an oversight was made. If a title defect arises after your loan is closed, YOU are now responsible for any legal cost or worse case, loss of property!

For my clients, I also recommend getting title insurance. You can only get it at closing and it is more of a piece of mind so that you are protected down the road in the chance that something comes up that was not found in the original title search.

-Brentney Moore, Sales Partner | Story House Real Estate