Your long home-buying journey is almost over. You found the home you love, the seller agreed to your offer and now it’s time for closing. Of course, there’s a lot to think about right now, and the last thing you want is something­ to go wrong. So make sure you work with an experienced closing agent to help ensure the details come together and everything runs smoothly.

As soon as the seller accepts your offer, the behind-the-scenes work begins. You can expect closing to happen within 30 to 90 days.

Whenever there’s an article in the news about title insurance, all too frequently there is criticism about the cost. This perception occurs because there are fewer claims with title insurance compared to other forms of insurance. The higher percentage of claims an insurance company pays should not be equated with the value and cost of the policy. This is especially true with title insurance.

From time to time, I want to use this space to cover the various aspects of title insurance policies. Think of these posts as a primer, very basic, but something that we all should know about when dealing with real estate and title insurance issues.

When you buy real estate with all cash out of your own pocket, and you don’t have to borrow any money to help pay the purchase price, the only title policy you will need to purchase is an Owner’s Policy, since you are the only one with an interest in the property. But if you need a loan to help pay for the property, your lender will require you to sign a mortgage putting a lien on your property to secure the loan. The lender will also require you to buy a title policy insuring their lien on your property, and that title policy will be a Loan Policy. So, the easy answer to the above question is: You have to buy a Loan Policy because your lender requires you to do so.

We have previously discussed several types of estates in land, all of which can exist simultaneously on the same parcel. These were fee simple, leasehold and easements. Today we are going to talk about other types of concurrent ownership of real estate: Joint Tenancy, Tenancy in Common and Tenancy by the Entirety.

The following discussion is a very elementary discussion of conveyances by deed. It is not intended to be a complete or comprehensive discussion of the topic, but may be helpful for non-lawyers who want to know a little bit more about the topic.

In one of my earlier blogs, I discussed the different parts of the title insurance policy. One of the parts of every title insurance policy is the part dealing with Exclusions from coverage. In that blog, I said this about the Exclusions:

You would think it is pretty easy to figure out how much title insurance to buy. But it’s not. That’s because the Amount of the Policy can be determined by several different factors, which need to be considered when you are purchasing the policy.

One of the essential provisions of a title policy is the Date of Policy. This is made clear in the very first part of every title policy adopted by the American Land Title Association (“ALTA”), which states:

Where is it? What is the address? How do I get there? These are all different ways to find out where a certain parcel of land or building is located. Knowing the address is often the easiest way to find a place. If you know the address, you can use your GPS to find the place.

Like every insurance policy, a policy of title insurance contains sections dealing with what it is insuring, the conditions of the insurance, and how to file a claim.

Because a title policy is retrospective in nature, it is necessary for the title company to know the history of the land to be insured by the title policy. This history contains information regarding who owned the land previously, any mortgages or deeds of trust that have been put on the property, and any easement, assessments, liens, or other matters that have been placed on the property. But how does the title company go about finding out this information?

Think of a parcel of land not as a piece of dirt, but as a bundle of sticks, with each stick representing a specific interest in that land. One of the sticks is the right to actually be on the land, called the right of possession. Another stick entitles you to convey all or part of the land to someone else, this is the right of alienability or transfer. Another stick entitles your heirs to inherit the land on your death if you die without a will; this is the right of inheritance. Another stick entitles you to mortgage or put a lien on the property, and so on.