I keep hearing ads for home title insurance and how easy it is to sell your home without you knowing,etc. Is it really a problem?
Is Home Title Insurance really necessary?
- Thread starter daves66nova
- Start date
This can probably tell you what you need to know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_insurance
Typically title Insurance purchased when you finance your home covers the lender (i.e. Lenders Policy vs Owners Policy). Very few people buy this insurance to cover themselves but I can see certain situations where it might be advantageous. Example, Some parts of Texas and coastal NC/SC /Ga where former slaves were swindled out of their land. Maybe Oklahoma (Indian treaties). Personally I don't think it's an issue if you live in urban areas, a condo, Planned Community, etc.
My understanding is title insurance is not to protect you from some nefarious character selling your some without your knowledge. It's to protect you from some third party saying they are the true owner of property or has claims to the property and the person that you bought the house from was not authorized to sell the property free and clear.
They run title searches to verify the genealogy of property so it seems a title claim would be very rare and therefore the title insurance should be less expensive than it is.
They run title searches to verify the genealogy of property so it seems a title claim would be very rare and therefore the title insurance should be less expensive than it is.
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2022
- Messages
- 101
Title insurance is cheap. It is the only way to protect yourself against older claims of ownership. An owners policy is typically issued in 2 ways. #1 a general warranty deed goes back through all recorded events and makes sure there is no break in title/ownership. #2 a special warranty deed will go back through 1 ownership, typically just to the owner before you.
WHy is this even needed? The best example I can give is that if there was ever a quit claim deed or trustee's deed on your home, unless everything was done 100% correct, there might be room for another party to litigate against you. The title policy that you buy would cover such ad event and serves to hold you harmless.
TH
WHy is this even needed? The best example I can give is that if there was ever a quit claim deed or trustee's deed on your home, unless everything was done 100% correct, there might be room for another party to litigate against you. The title policy that you buy would cover such ad event and serves to hold you harmless.
TH
I think OP is referring to the title lock insurance that seems to be a solution to a problem nobody has. It feels like a scam and a scare tactic to get people to buy the product.
Hometitlelock.com
Hometitlelock.com
Title insurance was recommended by my purchasing realtor on a past purchase, on the basis that I was not having a Real Property Report (RPR) done. As I understood it, having the title insurance provided protection in the event that an issue was discovered in the future regarding setbacks, fence placement, etc.
On my current house, a RPR was completed by a surveying firm, and title searches were conducted by the lawyer. Those respective firms signed off on having found no issues, so title insurance (in my view) was not required.
On my current house, a RPR was completed by a surveying firm, and title searches were conducted by the lawyer. Those respective firms signed off on having found no issues, so title insurance (in my view) was not required.
Nicely said, also should point out that these policies are split in two. One the lender requires the buyer pay for and it only covers the lender.
The buyer should be aware if they want to be covered that they have to make sure they are also purchasing coverage for themselves.
Is it needed? Debatable. New construction I would say for sure. I just think it makes sense, you're buying a home on a tract of land developed by a developer/builder. Purchasing a policy for yourself covers you in the event the developer made an error and built your house on someone else's land.
Resale homes? I have heard attorneys (I have ben to many closings) tell their clients its up to them if they want to spend the money when buying a 40,50,60 year old house in a community. Their reasoning is, if no one filed a claim in that amount of time chances are they wont.
I think @RhondaHonda in this case is right, seems like the OP is concerned about his house title being transferred to someone else without his knowledge. I agree, it's easy to scare someone into anything and get their money selling insurance. Does it happen? Sure, but Im betting the chances of you walking out your front door and get run over by a semi is many times more likely.
Living in a small, olde tyme town and I am two miles from our Town offices. I will tell Tammy the clerk to give me a buzz if something funny is ever going on, I'll be right over there with Sheriff Charlie in tow 
On the first house that I purchased the title search disclosed some anomaly from 1922 that the title or deed or something wasn't filed properly.
Sadly, I know someone that was killed by a semi running through her front door. I don't know anyone that had a title claim after buying a house.
We purchased our entire home online. Only met the sales person before we bought, everything was doc u sign. I mean EVERYTHING.
We did insist on a sit down with the closing attorney but we had to be here anyway to move in right away. But even in the attorneys office, all we did was doc u sign on an iPad.
They actually wanted us to sign ahead of time, I wouldnt because I wanted to make sure no one messed up and we got the keys, we needed the keys right away.
She said a lot of New Yorkers wont sign online *LOL* She said that is ok, she doesnt think she would either but almost everyone does now.
She asked why?
I told her, I wanted to make sure the house didnt burn down or broken into the night or morning before the closing. That we could have signed only to find out that the house was no longer there.
She said you must be from New York because New Yorkers think that way and she agrees. But almost everyone else just signs away not knowing if the house is still there.
PS, all our closing papers were given to us on a USB drive.
Last edited:
Last two vehicles I bought (from two different dealers) they gave me the docs after signing on a USB drive.
The title insurance you get when you buy or sell real property is to make sure the title is clean or all liens, easements, defects, etc. are disclosed. Title companies have records of almost all real estate transactions going back to the beginning of time. Title insurance does NOT cover lot lines or adverse possession.
Title lock insurance is supposed to protect you from someone secretly transferring ownership of your real property and recording a lien against it. I have no idea if it might be worth the money, but I doubt it.
I bought a small city lot in 1986 and did not have title insurance because I thought I knew everything about it and the purchase price was only $2,500. Later I found out the local savings bank had a mortgage lien on it. I got it cleared up since the loan had been paid and I learned a valuable lesson. When I bought the lot behind it for $2,000 I insisted on title insurance.
Title lock insurance is supposed to protect you from someone secretly transferring ownership of your real property and recording a lien against it. I have no idea if it might be worth the money, but I doubt it.
I bought a small city lot in 1986 and did not have title insurance because I thought I knew everything about it and the purchase price was only $2,500. Later I found out the local savings bank had a mortgage lien on it. I got it cleared up since the loan had been paid and I learned a valuable lesson. When I bought the lot behind it for $2,000 I insisted on title insurance.
True story. My father-in-law deeded his house and his commercial property to my wife and her brother with a life estate deed when they were 10-12 years old. They never knew anything about it.
Fast forward 40 years and my inlaws are broke and no longer able to handle their business so my wife as Power of Attorney sells the commercial property to some local people in this very small town to get $$ for her parents to live on. It's an all cash deal and everyone is tickled with the outcome.
Fast forward another 5 years, my inlaws have passed, and the property buyers go to the bank for a loan to build a mini storage place and they are informed that the actual "owners" of the property never signed the deed transferring ownership of the property. Panic ensues.
Out of decency and embarrassment my wife readily agrees to sign a quit claim deed but my charming BIL (who is the reason my inlaws were broke to begin with) decides to be an AH and says his property was sold without his consent and demands a few thousand more $$ for his signature.
Title insurance is there for the .005% of the time when weird things happen. After this incident I won't complain about the expense again.
Fast forward 40 years and my inlaws are broke and no longer able to handle their business so my wife as Power of Attorney sells the commercial property to some local people in this very small town to get $$ for her parents to live on. It's an all cash deal and everyone is tickled with the outcome.
Fast forward another 5 years, my inlaws have passed, and the property buyers go to the bank for a loan to build a mini storage place and they are informed that the actual "owners" of the property never signed the deed transferring ownership of the property. Panic ensues.
Out of decency and embarrassment my wife readily agrees to sign a quit claim deed but my charming BIL (who is the reason my inlaws were broke to begin with) decides to be an AH and says his property was sold without his consent and demands a few thousand more $$ for his signature.
Title insurance is there for the .005% of the time when weird things happen. After this incident I won't complain about the expense again.
We bought title insurance on our recent home. It was very cheap (a couple of hundred dollars maybe). And it is in effect as long as we own the property.
The risks were that someone would appear out of no-where with a claim against our property - a mechanics lien sort of thing. Or that a group would claim a historic right to the property. We live in British Columbia and native claims for ownership of the land have never been settled.
The risks are small but the potential loss could be large (in excess of a million dollars). A low cost to avoid a major loss is what insurance does best.
The risks were that someone would appear out of no-where with a claim against our property - a mechanics lien sort of thing. Or that a group would claim a historic right to the property. We live in British Columbia and native claims for ownership of the land have never been settled.
The risks are small but the potential loss could be large (in excess of a million dollars). A low cost to avoid a major loss is what insurance does best.
The OP is referring to "title lock" insurance, as RhondaHonda says.
I think the claims of others stealing your home as those radio ads describe are mostly bogus. In most US localities today you can't just walk into the local government offices with paperwork showing a title transfer. Paperwork, IDs, and for property sales lawyers are required. A quit-claim deed, which is essentially one person granting his interest in a property to another person without payment, still requires notarized signatures and recording the deed with the local government where the property is.
To sell my mother's property years after she died, my brother and I and the buyer had to retain a lawyer. The rural county made it clear to me that a lawyer would be necessary for the sale and transfer. Governments have cracked down on much of the past nonsense people used to get away with.
So the idea that a scam artist could transfer your property without you knowing is something I wouldn't lose any sleep over. The situation in some unusual cases, such as on Native American reservations, might be an exception.
I think the claims of others stealing your home as those radio ads describe are mostly bogus. In most US localities today you can't just walk into the local government offices with paperwork showing a title transfer. Paperwork, IDs, and for property sales lawyers are required. A quit-claim deed, which is essentially one person granting his interest in a property to another person without payment, still requires notarized signatures and recording the deed with the local government where the property is.
To sell my mother's property years after she died, my brother and I and the buyer had to retain a lawyer. The rural county made it clear to me that a lawyer would be necessary for the sale and transfer. Governments have cracked down on much of the past nonsense people used to get away with.
So the idea that a scam artist could transfer your property without you knowing is something I wouldn't lose any sleep over. The situation in some unusual cases, such as on Native American reservations, might be an exception.
Similar threads
