I am a Title Insurance Agent authorized to issue Title Insurance commitments and policies under the regulations and guidelines of the First American Title Insurance Company, a subdivision of First American Corporation.

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Title Insurance can additionally offer protection to the lender under similar circumstances. The cost of title insurance is usually a set value per thousand of dollars of the total loan amount.

Title insurance provides coverage for certain losses due to defects in the title that occurred prior to your ownership. The seller can give you only those rights that have been previously received by him/her with good title. Title insurance protects against such prior fraud or forgery that might go undetected until after closing and possibly jeopardize your ownership and investment.

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First American Corporation is one of the nation's leading, most experienced providers of title insurance, and number one in global title operations. This segment's businesses utilize information to protect real property buyers and lenders from problems that might affect title ownership. Through nearly 1,200 offices and thousands of agents in the United States and abroad, the company offers a wide variety of title insurance and associated closing and escrow services. Coverage is provided on residential and commercial properties, personal property collateral, aircraft, nautical vessels, and more.

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When you buy a home, or any property for that matter, you expect to enjoy certain benefits from ownership. For example, you expect to be able to occupy and use the property as you wish, to be free from debts or obligations not created or agreed to by you, and to be able to freely sell or pledge your property as security for a loan. Title insurance is designed to cover these rights you bargain for.

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For the average property owner, there are two different types of title insurance policies that you need to be aware of:

Owner's Title Insurance Policy
Mortgagee's Title Insurance Policy

Likewise, if a buyer gives you a mortgage to finance a purchase of covered property from you, your coverage continues to protect your security interest in the property.

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Title insurance is different from other types of insurance in that it protects you, the insured, from loss that may occur from matters or defects from the past. Other types of insurance such as auto insurance, life insurance or health insurance, cover you against losses that may occur in the future.

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There are numerous defects or problems that can arise to cause an attack or loss of the title to your property. Some of these include problems not disclosed by the most careful search of the public records (the title search). Hidden risks can cause a total loss of your investment or heavy legal expenses in the defense of an attack on the title.

Some title problems may show up months or years after the original purchase of the property. The following are examples of matters that can cause loss of title or an expensive lawsuit:

Title insurance defends you in a lawsuit attacking your title and either corrects the title problem or pays the insured's losses up to the face amount of the policy. The policy also protects you after you sell the property, for defects occurring prior to your ownership that cause a loss to a purchaser if the title was warranted by you.

The title policy guarantees that at the date the deed was filed for record placing title in the name of the insured, the title was free of defects apart from those "excepted to" in the policy. The policy does not guarantee an actual amount of land. It guarantees that there are no buildings or other improvements belonging to someone else located on the insured land when an acceptable survey is furnished to the title company. An additional premium is paid to amend the standard survey exception.

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Inform the title company, attorney or agent handling the closing of your property that you want to purchase an Owner's Title Insurance Policy.

In most states, the premiums for the title insurance policies are regulated by the state insurance commission or some other governmental body. You only pay the premium once. The cost depends upon the purchase price of the property, and your policy amount must be equal to the purchase price. Your closing agent will quote you that price either upon your inquiry or at the time of closing.

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The lender's policy covers only the amount of its loan, which is usually not the full property value. In the event of an adverse claim, the lender would ordinarily not be concerned unless its loan became nonperforming and the claim threatened the lender's ability to foreclose and recover its principal and interest. And, in the event of a claim, there is no provision for payment of legal expenses for an uninsured party. When a loan policy is being issued, the small additional expense of an owner's policy is a bargain.

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No, it's not a double payment or duplicate coverage. The Mortgagee's Policy protects the lender's interest only so long as the loan is outstanding and only in the amount of the balance of the loan at any given time. The Owner's Policy protects you up to the face amount of the policy during your ownership and after you have sold the property if you have warranted the property to your subsequent buyer.

After arranging a loan, you pay a premium for the purchase of the Mortgagee's Policy based on the amount of the loan. If you desire to purchase an Owner's Policy at the same time, you pay an additional premium only for the difference that covers your equity or investment in the property together with a small "simultaneous issue fee." Because of this, you do not pay twice for the two policies.

If you buy your Owner's Policy separately, you pay the full premium for the policy. Likewise, if you refinance or borrow additional money at a later time, you can expect to pay additional premiums for the new policies, if required.

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