A Brief Introduction to Title Insurance:

The policy premiums paid for any title insurance policy is a one-time payment with no renewal fees.  If you sell or refinance within 10 years, you may be eligible for a reduced premium for the new policy.

Lender’s Title Insurance:   Protects the lender up to the full value of the policy.  This offers no protection to the owner of the property.  This policy insures that the lender has a certain priority against any other liens on the property.

Owner’s Title Insurance:  Protects the owner from hidden title defects.  Many different people have owned the land being purchased and there is a chance for error at each transfer.  Some examples of hidden defects are: forged deeds, unknown heirs, marital status errors, errors in pubic records, invalid documents, unrecorded easements, and signatures of incompetent individuals.  The owners are protected from financial loss due to such hidden title defects and the cost to defend the title in an amount not to exceed the face amount of the policy.  The face amount of the policy can be no greater than the fair market value of the property at the time of purchase, and is usually the purchase price.

Homeowner’s Title Insurance: Added protection above the Owner’s Title Insurance policy.  Unlike the standard Owner’s Title Policy, it covers things that can occur after the property is purchased, such as forgery, forced removal of encroachments, adverse possession, access coverage, zoning violations, restrictive and covenant violations and many more.  It also provides coverage for living trusts, including not only the trustees but the beneficiaries as well.  This coverage continues to increase annually by 10% of the original amount each of the first five years of ownership, up to 150% of the policy amount.

The title insurance policy is only as sound as the company that insures it.  Our underwriters, Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation and First American Title Insurance Company are among the best in the business.  You can trust that any title insurance issued from our underwriters will provide you the protection and coverage that you need, when you need it most.