Why Do You Need Title Insurance?
To protect possibly the most important investment you’ll ever make – the investment in your home or real estate. The lender goes to great lengths to minimize the risk of lending money for the purchase of real estate. Then, the lender seeks assurance that the quality of the title to the property, which has been pledged as security for the loan, is satisfactory. The lender does this by obtaining a loan policy of title insurance. This policy does not protect the borrower. The loan policy protects the lender against loss due to unknown title defects. But, this policy only protects the lender’s interest. It does not protect the borrower. That is why a real estate purchaser needs an owner’s policy, which can be issued at the same time as the loan policy. Title insurance is issued after a careful examination of copies of the public records. But even the most thorough search cannot absolutely assure that no title hazards are present. Title insurance will pay for defending against any lawsuit attacking the title as insured, and will either clean up title problems or pay the insured’s losses. Owner’s title insurance, issued simultaneously with the loan policy, is the best title value a property owner can get.
What Title Insurance Protects Against:
- False impersonation of the true owner of the property
- Forged deeds, releases or wills
- Undisclosed or missing heirs
- Instruments executed under invalid or expired power of attorney
- Mistakes in recording legal documents
- Misinterpretations of wills
- Deeds by persons of unsound mind
- Deeds by minors
- Deeds by persons supposedly single, but in fact married
- Liens for unpaid estate, inheritance, income or gift taxes
- Fraud