Why Title Insurance?

Owning real estate is one of the most precious values of freedom enjoyed in this country. When you decide to buy a new home, you want to be sure the property will be yours and that no one else will have any liens, claims or encumbrances against your home other than your agreed-to mortgage.

LOAN POLICY - LENDER
A loan policy insures your lender's security interest against loss due to defects in your title that were not discovered at the time of sale. The loan policy offers no protection for the homeowner.

OWNERS POLICY - HOMEOWNER
Just as lenders want security with their title policy, you should protect the equipty in your new home with a title policy. For a low, one-time premium, you can receive the protection of a title insurance policy against "hidden risks" or undiscovered interests. Ask your title agent for an owners policy. Your policy should be backed by the reserves and surplus of a reputable title insurance company.

THE OWNER'S POLICY PROVIDES:
• Protection from financial loss due to covered claims that may be asserted against the title to your home,up to the face amount of the title policy.
• Payment of legal costs if the title insurer has to defend your title against a covered claim.
• Payment of successful claims against the title to your home covered by the policy, up to the face amount of the policy.

TITLE INSURANCE PROTECTION
Some common hidden risks protected under a title policy:
• False impersonation of the true owner of the property by your seller or other persons formerly
in title.
• Forged deeds, releases and other documents.
• Deeds by persons of unsound mind.
• Deeds by minors
• Invalid documents executed under expired power of attorney.
• Invalid deeds delivered after the death of the grantor.
• Deeds by supposedly single persons but actually married.
• Fraud
• Liens for unpaid estate inheritance and gift taxes against prior owners of your home.
• Unrecorded easements - rights of way.
• Undisclosed heirs of former owners of your home or the land on which it is situated.

PEACE OF MIND
Once purchased, title insurance remains in effect for as long as you own your home. Title insurance adds security and peace of mind to home ownership.

Every real estate purchaser must rely upon one of the following as evidence he or she has title to property: abstract, certificate, attorney's opinion or title insurance.
Some are better than others. And title insurance is the best of the lot. Look at some typical cases and compare.

Case 1

A property owner answered a want ad of a prospective purchaser. In payment, the purchaser offered the owner a $20,000 note secured by a mortgage on another piece of property. The seller accepted the interest-bearing note as payment.
When the note became due, it was discovered that the real owner of the property described in the mortgage had not executed either the note or the mortgage. Both had been forged by someone impersonating the actual owner.

Case 2

A large but inefficient real estate developer was declared bankrupt. At the auction of his assets another developer bought a piece of property for speculation. He sold it at a profit to a builder who built a house on it and then sold the house and lot to a private buyer.
Soon afterward an out-of-town man with the same name and middle initial as the bankrupt man visited the area and asserted that the property was his. He had owned it for many years. Furthermore, he proved his claim.
The new "owner" had no title regardless of the number of times title had been transferred since the property was supposedly sold at auction.

Case 3

In examining title to property being purchased by a client, an attorney missed a former mortgage recorded against the property due to an indexing or filing error in the clerk's office.

Case 4

A In a title examination, an attorney overlooked a former mortgage recorded against the property. The old mortgage was not discovered until the statute of limitations had eliminated the examiner's liability.

Case 5

An individual bought a home from a man who held the power of attorney from an out-of-town property owner. The power of attorney was recorded and a careful examination showed it to be technically proper in all respects.
Not long after the sale, the property was claimed by a devisee under the will of the former owner. It was proved that the previous owner had died two days before the sale was made.
Even though the attorney had made a reasonable inquiry into the competency of the principal, he was misled to believe he was alive and well at the time of closing. The power of attorney, however, had expired with the principal's death.

Case 6

A young couple bought a house from a widow and her daughter, the only known heirs of the husband and father who had died without leaving a will.
Soon after the sale a man appeared claiming an interest in the house. He was the son of the widow's husband by a former marriage. He had never liked the idea of his father's remarriage and had dropped out of sight to make his own way in the world. Nevertheless he was entitled to his share of his father's estate.

Case 7

When a woman bought her home the recorded plat of the property showed all buildings to be well within the boundaries of her lot. Another survey at the time she bought confirmed the recorded plat.
When property adjoining hers was placed on the market, still another survey disclosed the fact that her garage and driveway were actually partly built on her neighbor's land. She was fortunate enough to be able to buy a strip of land wide enough to bring her garage and driveway within the boundaries of her property.

Case 8

A man inherited a number of pieces of property under the terms of his father's will.
As he lived out of town and had not further interests in the city in which the property was located, he sold all of it, stating in the deeds that he was single.
A few months later, and after the seller had been killed in an accident, his wife from whom he had been separated and who had not been mentioned in her father-in-law's will took action against all of the purchasers of property from her husband. She was claiming her interest in the property.