Title Insurance

[HGMorgann]

At a home buyers class I had to attend Saturday, one of the speakers was a Title Insurance Agent. She recommended purchasing a policy that covers the homeowner, not just the lender in case of title fraud. Most lenders require it so, thats not an issue.
Honestly, we never have heard of this before: title insurance for the owner. We've asked a few of our friends who a. didn't purchase it. b. didn't know about it when they bought.

Any thoughts? We are thinking about it but even though its relatively inexpensive, with all the other costs w/ homebuying, we aren't sure if we can swing that expense along side everything else.

[IrishEyes]

We have bought it both times that we have purchased a house. Considering the investment that a house is, I think the $ for title insurance is pretty small and I felt a lot more secure having that insurance.

Our first house was very old (built in 1885) and our city has had some recent issues with ground rent and other issues. We definitely wanted protection in that situation.

[ThreeYell]

I think it was about $80 to get the title ins. extended to the homeowner when we bought our house. Our closing attorney said we'd be silly not to get it, considering how cheap it is in the grand scheme of home purchases.

[hmbay]

I've bought it on every house. The first townhouse I bought the sellers had only owned it a few months (flipped it) and they had no record of their title being clear (the title hadn't cleared the county yet from when they filed it when they purchased the home) and no title insurance to protect them. they ended up having to put several thousand dollars into escrow the day of closing to clear up any potential title issues that would arise after I took possession. They got the money back one they could prove they had a clear title.

I also agree that it's a minor expense in all the fees you pay and it can save you a lot of hassle and headaches in the long run.

Here's a quick sum-up of why it's a wise investment:
http://abbeytitle.com/whybuytitle.htm
Also this explains why you want your own coverage and not just the lenders coverage:
http://www.firstam.com/fatic/html/cust/1200.html

[pixielou]

hmmmm. . .i uess compared to the cost of the house it was a minor expense, but it still was a pretty huge chunk of change.

we just recently closed and we paid $1,995.00 for title insurance. $910 covered the policy for the bank - which covers the mortgage amount. $1085 covered the policy for dh and i - which covers the purchase amount. i don't recall being asked if i wanted title insurance for us. i only know we have it since the closing attorney remarked on it and said that we were really smart for purchasing it.

~pixie

[HGMorgann]

Thanks for the input. We feel like dorks that we didn't have a clue about this. We've researched so much, but missed out on this one.

[Ummm]

we just closed today... is it too late to get it?! if we can still get it, where do we get it from? from the title company? from

[~queen~]

We ALWAYS opt out. For us, its a big expense ~$2500 and honestly, its just not worth it.

You are insured against your lenders title insurance, it just may take longer to fight if someone wants to go after your property, but it can also be used to show ownership.

Oh, and get this! The last house we purchased, the title company charged us MORE for the Lenders Title Insurance because we opted out. I guess cause they knew that we could still use them in the event of a case against us, and they wanted to make sure they get something out of it! The increase for the single insurance came to about $500 - alot easier to swallow.

Plus, know that if you plan to refinance in the next few years, you have to purchase it all over again. You may get a reduced rate if you use the same Title company for your refi, but the discount is not much at all.

[HGMorgann]

Umm It is not too late, though it will be more expensive since you won't get the "packaged" rate from when you bought it for the lender.

[Ummm]

thanks for the info!