10 Ways Title Insurance Protects You

In an ideal world, deeds would pass from one owner to another without any issues. However, problems do arise frequently enough to cause alarm. Those who fail to guard against potential dangers leave themselves open to incurring heavy financial losses and other taxing damages. Title insurance can protect a homeowner a wide variety of undesirable situations. Below is a list of the ten ways title insurance protects you:

Liens

Occasionally, property owners will attempt to sell their homes to pay off or otherwise escape past debts. Any number of organizations and institutions may place a lien on the property or home in such cases. The new owner may even remain unaware of these entanglements until it is far too late. Furthermore, liens could even be placed on the property subsequent to the date of purchase. Visit Marina Title’s Residential page for further information on liens.

Encumbrances

Much like a lien, a third party may assert control over part of the property in order to recover, in part or in whole, monies owed by the previous owner. Such an occurrence can cause great harm to new homeowners.

Missing Heir

In the event of a failure to locate the named heir(s) of a property, the state may opt to sell the property instead. However, said heir may return at a future date, possibly years later, to wrest control of the property from its current owner.

Missing Will

Similarly to the above-described situation, the state will often seize and sell property if no will can be found. A homebuyer may acquire the title to a property only to have the will discovered soon enough thereafter. In this case, the rights of the buyer would be in jeopardy.

Inaccurate Records

Clerical errors occur commonly enough, perhaps leading to the misspelling of a name or the improper filing of a crucial document. Should the title be filed incorrectly or become lost, the question of ownership may prove difficult to resolve conclusively.

Boundary Disputes

Prior to the acquisition of a property, it will need to be surveyed in order to demarcate the correct boundaries. Should a neighbor prove the previously stated boundary to be incorrect, the buyer may be forced to forfeit a parcel of land for which he or she paid the seller.

Easements

When purchasing property, a buyer might assume that he owns everything for which he paid. This is not always the case, as the property may have had an easement placed on it. Enabled by the previous owner’s unmet financial obligations, another party, such as a business or the government, may have claimed a right to a part of the property. This could prevent the current owner from making use of the property in the way he sees fit. In addition, the third party could permanently possess the parcel they control.

Impersonation

A title can only be bought from the rightful property owner. If an individual sold the house while impersonating the owner, the sale will be rendered invalid. Furthermore, if a previous sale was made by an impersonator, any subsequent sales will also be invalidated.

Forgery

The signing of a host of documents is required in order to transfer the rights of a property from one individual to another. Should even one of these happen to be a forgery, it could void the entire sale, and a property dispute could result.

Illegal Sale

Certain individuals, such as minors or illegal immigrants, cannot legally purchase a home. As was the case with the discovery of an attempt at impersonation, such a situation could void the impersonator’s sale of the home and any sales of that same property occurring at any point thereafter. Again, such an event could lead to a property dispute.

To prevent situations such as these from occurring, owning a title insurance policy which fully covers the value of the home is essential. For more information on title insurance, contact us by phone at (305) 901-5628 or by email at [email protected].