Protect your investment
ProPROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT
First American Title Company, Inc.
Owning your property free and clear involves more than having a deed in hand. A deed does not cancel
certain prior “rights” and “claims” other people may have to your property – rights whose existence you never
suspected; claims that may go back in time months or decades to the earliest owners of your newly acquired property.
Protecting Your Rights
“What protection,”
you may ask, “do I have against such claims? How can I be sure my property is really mine?”
The answer to both those questions is real estate ownership insurance, commonly known as
title insurance.
Title Insurance
Title Insurance
is an insured statement of the condition of your “title” or ownership rights to a certain piece of
property. A title insurance policy describes your property in detail and states what limitations, if any, there are to your
ownership. (For example, you may take ownership subject to existing liens or encumbrances. Or you may not own
mineral rights. Or easements may have been granted to utility companies or adjacent property owners). Most
importantly, a title insurance policy
guarantees that the property you are purchasing is free of undisclosed liens,
confusion in the rights of ownership and other clouds on the title. In short, it guarantees that you own the property for
which you bargained.
Before a Policy
is issued, the title company conducts a search of the public records. The records trace back to the
King and forward to the current owner. Only after collecting, examining and interpreting appropriate records is a policy
issued insuring the condition of title.
Besides describing
your property and spelling out any recorded limitations on your ownership, a title insurance policy
sets forth in clear terms what the title company will do in the event that a flaw in title is discovered or your rights of
ownership are challenged.
In simple terms,
the company agrees:
1. To defend your title in the Courts, as insured, at its own expense.
2. To correct or clear the title when possible.
3. To promptly pay you for your loss in the event of an unsuccessful
defense of your title.
A title insurance policy provides you with peace of mind
. It takes the risk out of acquiring property whose legal
history is unknown to you. While there should be no risks in transferring property, they do exist. Through the years,
your new property may have changed hands many times through sale, inheritance, foreclosure or bankruptcy. Each
transfer was an opportunity for an error in title to arise. If an error occurred, and has never come to light, it puts your
title in jeopardy. You could lose your property and the money you paid for it. And, even if you successfully defend your
rights of ownership, the cost in time and legal fees could be prohibitive. Among the many risks against which title
insurance protects you are forged documents, fraud, signatures of minors or mentally incompetent persons and invalid
divorces.
A LOW, ONE-TIME
premium is all you pay to obtain the protection and peace of mind of a First American title
insurance policy. So long as ownership remains in your name or that of your heirs, there is no additional cost. The
policy is issued in an amount equal to the purchase price you pay. Of course, the greater the coverage given, the
higher the premium.
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