As a Florida resident who is looking into buying residential property, you will also need to get title insurance. Today, we at Conroy, Conroy & Durant, P.A., are here to discuss how it works and why it is important to homeowners and property owners alike.
Title insurance works by protecting real estate owners like you from losses that could occur from liens, defects in the title, encumbrances, or ownership of the property. Most types of insurance protect you against claims made in the future, but title insurance protects you from past occurrences you don’t know about that could have otherwise come back to haunt you.
Title searches happen before any property is bought or sold. This search looks at public records and will determine and confirm the legal owner of any given property. It will also check to see if there are any other claims on the property. Because a clear title is necessary for all real estate transactions, issues like unresolved building code violations or erroneous surveys can potentially make a title “dirty”. This can easily lead to big problems if you don’t have insurance.
Hazards faced under title insurance typically include restricted covenants like unrecorded easements, defective recordation, ownership by another party, and incorrect document signatures including issues related to fraud or forgery.
Typically speaking, homeowners will put the cost of their title insurance in with the cost of the rest of the property. If you are looking into the possibility of purchasing residential property, don’t forget key aspects like getting title insurance. This can protect you from unnecessary grievances.
