An overview of title insurance

On Behalf of | Jan 24, 2015 | Real Estate Transactions

Of all of the legal issues an average South Florida resident could be involved in, a real estate transaction is oftentimes the most challenging to understand. After all, buying real estate is not like buying a gallon of milk – there are quite a few legal implications that most buyers and even sellers don’t contemplate before entering into an agreement. One issue is titles.

A title to a piece of real estate shows ownership, but it also shows any other party besides the owner who has claim to the property. Ensuring that property has a “clean title” during a real estate transaction is one of the most important steps in the process. However, with a transaction as complicated as a real estate sale, sometimes there are going to be problems.

That is where title insurance can be helpful. Sometimes the most diligent search of the property records doesn’t reveal a defect that will need to be addressed. If a title issue comes up after the transaction is complete, title insurance is there for the new homeowner to call upon to deal with the problem.

In most cases, a buyer will purchase their title insurance for a one-time fee at the closing on the real estate in question. Probably the most appealing aspect of title insurance is that in the vast majority of cases the policy is good for as long as the new buyer has ownership of the property. If a latent problem becomes an issue years down the road, the new buyer should still be able to depend on their title insurance policy.

Source: homeclosing101.org, “Why You Need Title Insurance,” Accessed Jan. 17, 2015