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What is a Title
Search?
A title search
is a comprehensive review of all public records
involving the title to a particular property. A
typical title search consists of any and all
historical records pertaining to the property
including, but not limited to; deeds, wills,
trusts, court records, property and name
indexes, mortgages, and many other documents.
- What is the purpose of a title
search?
The purpose of the title search is
to verify that there are no liens or other
claims against the property and that all
former owners have given up their rights to
the property. This verifies that the seller
has a right to transfer ownership of the
property.
- How is a title search conducted?
A typical title search can go as
far back as 30 years. A search begins when
the examiner, a lawyer or an expert from
your title company, investigates the
previous owners of the property going all
the back to when the land was purchased from
the government by the original home owners.
With the miracle of modern technology,
examiners have been able to utilize the
power of the Internet in order to expedite
and perfect title searches, giving unlimited
access to public documents at the click of a
button.
The examiner is looking for “clouds,” a
title term for any problem that might affect
the seller’s ability to successfully
transfer the title of the home to the
buyer. If “clouds” are detected, it’s
crucial that you have title
insurance to safeguard your
investment.
- What role does title insurance
play?
Title insurance is essential
because it protects the homeowner of their
ownership. Title insurance safeguards the
homeowner from loss due to problems with the
title. Your policy states that your title
company will provide legal counsel should
any problem with your title occur. The
title insurance company offers a complete
and thorough background investigation on
your property searching for anything that
could affect the title, such as: tax
information, historic matters of importance,
purchasing information, other claims to the
property, etc. — essentially all matters
which could affect ownership.
However, even in the most thorough
investigations, it is possible to miss
something important, and therefore, you buy
title insurance. This
protects the homeowner as well as the title
company. Once the settlement is final, the
homeowner is completely responsible for any
valid claims made against the property in
question. Title insurance protects your
investment.
If “clouds” do arise, title insurance
protects the buyer and lender from any
losses, including the cost to fix the
errors, up to the value of the policy or the
original purchase price. This is due to the
fact that the title search failed to turn up
this information.
- Are their hidden problems that a
title search may not expose?
In some cases, even the most
thorough title search can miss something
that could affect the ownership of your
home. Hidden problems could include fraud,
forgery, faulty deeds, mental incompetence,
clerical errors, etc. In these cases, your
title insurance will protect you from any
loss you incur up to the amount of your
policy, as well as your legal fees.
Call Cole Tile and Escrow to discuss your title company needs at 410-252-5180!
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