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Agreed. I recommend title insurance. Ignore the rest of the bad advice. Most of it is from people that don't know enough about it that they should have offered an opinion.
Do you have any data on how many successful claims are filed against title insurance?
I mean, I get it that there could be some issue arise but trying to get a sense of whether the risk is significant or a fluke got-hit-by-a-meteor thing.
I am getting the impression that this is something I do not need to look into as long as County records show a clear title and deed is in order.
Before you go too far, you might want to ask about how the title insurance company will determine the limits of the policy. It varies by location.
For example, where I live I purchased a fixer upper house for say $50k. County assessment puts the value at $126k. But here the County does assessments every ten years and they do not know the house was trashed...plus this is a 8 year old assessment. If it was not trashed it would be worth $250k. I can buy title insurance at any time, BUT I can only buy it for $50k as that was my purchase price. That holds true even after the house is fixed up, or the County reassesses it in two years.
So, if the location of the house has similar underwriting rules, you may find that inheriting gives you a low or no value policy as the only choice. Might want to research that by your house location before you go any further in deciding if you need/want a policy or not..
If you inherit a paid off property (California) and county records show you as full owner and deed type is 'Grant Deed', is it necessary or wise to carry title insurance?
I guess another way to ask the question is this, if you own a home outright is it recommended to buy Title insurance?
Is it even possible to obtain? I am reading that it is only available at closing.
Am I totally misunderstanding the meaning of what title insurance is? I understand it to be a 'backup' to county records of ownership basically.
Thanks in advance.
Joining this thread late, but you buy title insurance when you buy a property- for the closing- to help ensure that the title to the property that you’re buying belongs to the seller and will be given to you, and that nobody else has rights to the property. The only time you would need it is for a closing.
It seems to be a "for what?" issue. You've already inherited the property including whatever is attached to it, liens, assessments, whatever.
Unless, of course, you'd decline to accept it depending on what you found.
But a search, while informational, is separate from insurance on the title which doesn't benefit you much and will mostly be important only when/if you sell and have to provide it.
I don't mind at all if somebody disagrees with this and educates me as to why.
It seems to be a "for what?" issue. You've already inherited the property including whatever is attached to it, liens, assessments, whatever.
Unless, of course, you'd decline to accept it depending on what you found.
But a search, while informational, is separate from insurance on the title which doesn't benefit you much and will mostly be important only when/if you sell and have to provide it.
I don't mind at all if somebody disagrees with this and educates me as to why.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BoBromhal
I am not an estate attorney, nor do I have deep knowledge of transferring property through the estate process. However, in theory the entity that issued this Deed to you performed a title search to ensure no other parties had a claim involving the property. "Someone" had to do a title search, which would have revealed any valid claims against the property.
Title insurance covers the beneficiary - you - if something was missed in that process. The title insurance policy would pay to clear the title for you. It doesn't cover you if in the future someone makes a claim against you.
You can get title insurance now if you like; the title agent will perform (another?) title search (which will cost you money) and then issue the policy (more money)
well let me tell you about my buddy .....
in the corner of the development he was in was a house . it was a weird house , no one lived in it and as far as anyone could tell it had no access in to the property or out as it was landlocked by surrounding properties on all sides . it was run down and an eyesore . the community had tried to find out who owned it for years .
finally someone got results and this house turned out to be built by the builder to live in while constructing the development decades ago .
well this was an inherited house and one day he gets notice that the house that is land locked had a new study show that it once belonged to the builder of the development decades ago who just threw it up on the property while putting up the development . .
it turns out that house is actually on a piece property butted up against my buddies property and the survey drawings were wrong . this property is actually part of my buddies .
to remove that house ,which is what the village demanded was estimated at 70- 100k .luckily they did have title insurance which paid for the removal from what was a survey error just surfacing now . .
Always, always always have title insurance on a property. It is good for life and protects you from some old debt a prior owner may have had. Title insurance is very inexpensive compared to the risk of not having it.
Real estate broker, 29 years.
(Despite what some spammer put up there beside my handle, I have not been a real estate agent for more than a quarter century.)
Always, always always have title insurance on a property. It is good for life and protects you from some old debt a prior owner may have had. Title insurance is very inexpensive compared to the risk of not having it.
Real estate broker, 29 years.
(Despite what some spammer put up there beside my handle, I have not been a real estate agent for more than a quarter century.)
If it's "good for life" why do you have to pay for a new policy when the previous owner already paid for a policy?
Despite the anecdotal horror stories, does anyone have any actual data on number or amount of claims? With insurance like health, home, auto I'm seeing around 80% of premiums going towards claims. From what I'm reading it's low single digits for title insurance.
If it's "good for life" why do you have to pay for a new policy when the previous owner already paid for a policy?
Despite the anecdotal horror stories, does anyone have any actual data on number or amount of claims? With insurance like health, home, auto I'm seeing around 80% of premiums going towards claims. From what I'm reading it's low single digits for title insurance.
It's a small, one time fee. Like all insurance, you're buying it for the "just in case". Do most people ever need it? No, but if you do you'll be glad you have it. I can't ever imaging owning a property without title insurance.
Most people never need homeowners insurance. It's not required on homes w/o a mortgage. If you owned a home with no mortgage, would you cease carrying homeowners insurance?
If you didn't have to carry insurance on your car, would you still do so? I haven't needed my car insurance for anything since 2009, yet I'd still carry it.
Health insurance? I never meet my deductible yet my family is like 14k a year. Waste of money, right?
in the corner of the development he was in was a house . it was a weird house , no one lived in it and as far as anyone could tell it had no access in to the property or out as it was landlocked by surrounding properties on all sides . it was run down and an eyesore . the community had tried to find out who owned it for years .
finally someone got results and this house turned out to be built by the builder to live in while constructing the development decades ago .
well this was an inherited house and one day he gets notice that the house that is land locked had a new study show that it once belonged to the builder of the development decades ago who just threw it up on the property while putting up the development . .
it turns out that house is actually on a piece property butted up against my buddies property and the survey drawings were wrong . this property is actually part of my buddies .
to remove that house ,which is what the village demanded was estimated at 70- 100k .luckily they did have title insurance which paid for the removal from what was a survey error just surfacing now . .
I'm not sure whether you're agreeing, disagreeing or partially agreeing that if a search is done and it shows negative results of any kind, like you described, it might give him reason to decline the inheritance.
But, would not the title company refuse to insure the title in that case, since it's not clear, unless they did so but with exclusions to any liens, errors, etc?.
It's a small, one time fee. Like all insurance, you're buying it for the "just in case". Do most people ever need it? No, but if you do you'll be glad you have it. I can't ever imaging owning a property without title insurance.
Most people never need homeowners insurance. It's not required on homes w/o a mortgage. If you owned a home with no mortgage, would you cease carrying homeowners insurance?
If you didn't have to carry insurance on your car, would you still do so? I haven't needed my car insurance for anything since 2009, yet I'd still carry it.
Health insurance? I never meet my deductible yet my family is like 14k a year. Waste of money, right?
Difference is, home/auto/health insurance all have significant claims payout relative to premiums. Is there anyone here that can say they have never filed a home/auto/health claim?
Please, I'm not saying to go without title insurance, I'm simply asking if anyone has any actual data and can justify title insurance by data rather than scare-mongering omg-you-could-get-hit-by-a-meteor.
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