Land Title Blog & Radio Show

Neither Benjamin Franklin nor Salmon P. Chase were President, yet both appear on US money; however, there’s a hundred-fold difference between them.

Benjamin Franklin-everybody knows him! He was an inventor, a statesman, and public leader. His face is printed on the hundred dollar bill, a handsome portrait to have in your wallet!

Salmon P. Chase-doesn’t tend to ride in people’s hip pockets so often (even when buying gas!). He served as Secretary of The Treasury and he’s on the ten thousand dollar bill.

The cost difference between having Owner’s Title Insurance on your real estate could be as great as the difference between these two men.

Owner’s Title Insurance typically costs a handful of Franklins (The base rate is $5.75 per thousand up to $100,000, and then $5.00 per thousand thereafter. The minimum charge for an Owner’s Title Insurance Policy is $100). It’s a one-time fee, and then those Franklins are ready to go to work should a property dispute arise.

Without Owner’s Title Insurance, a property dispute could cost the homeowner a lot more. The homeowner has to pay out-of-pocket for attorney’s fees and court costs to defend his ownership rights. Legal defense is expensive regardless of the property value of your home. The Salmon P. Chase bill is rare and hard to come by, yet title defense could cost $10,000 or more, and in the end, you could still lose your house.

When you spend a Woodrow Wilson (hundred thousand dollar bill) on the home of your dreams, it’s worth some Franklins to insure your title to it. Use correct denominations to get the maximum value. It’s a lot easier to reach into your walle for a Franklin
than for a Chase!

The Washington Post published a list of useful words you won’t find in the dictionary, including:

“Cashtration” (cash-tray-shun) – the act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent
“Reintarnation” (re-in-tar-nay-shun) – coming back to life as a hillbilly
“Dopeler effect” (dope-lur) – tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly

I’ve got a word to add to the list: “Ambiguilty” (am-bi-gil-tee) – the state of being at fault for filing a totally bogus title claim against a rightful property owner. This is a term that applies to attorneys.

Real estate could be unfamiliar territory, but that doesn’t stop some attorneys who think they’re jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none from trying to knock down your door with a ridiculous challenge to your ownership.

Regardless of how bogus that claim is, the homeowner is responsible to defend himself in a court of law. And that’s costly. Have you priced a legal defense lately? Have you taken out a second mortgage lately?

Some attorneys are ambiguilty of imaginary title clouds that could cost the homeowner big bucks. The attorneys don’t know any better so they file a claim that they’re not going to win because they don’t know any better- a circular situation that can leave you spinning.

Don’t let lawyers charge you out of house and home when a title insurance policy provides a legal defense for your ownership rights (or pays out the policy amount if needed). Protect yourself from ambiguilty attorneys-get title insurance.

Some men are born to live at ease, doing what they please, richer than the bees are in honey… the rest of us have to work for a living!

Buying a home is for many of us the largest purchase we’ll ever make. It takes a lot of hard work to afford to live where we live, but we get the benefit of shelter-a place to gather, a place to rest and play, and a safe place to raise our children. A home is a very costly part of our lives, and a very beneficial part.

Hard earned homes can be compromised if a title claim is made against the property. Even if that claim is illegitimate, the homeowner has to defend his title in a court of law. Litigation expense can exceed the property value, making a legal defense cost prohibitive.

However, title insurance can help a homeowner protect his purchase. At a fraction of the cost to hire an attorney, a title insurance policy pays court costs to defend the homeowner’s ownership.

Protect your purchase with title insurance, then all is not lost in the event of a claim or challenge. A title insurance policy is something I hope you’ll never use, but if you need it, it is all for the best.

Owner’s Title Insurance is like a pre-written alternative ending to avoid misfortune. The happily-ever-after of home ownership should be hassle-free. You should be able to own your home and sell your home without any question of your entitlement. You paid for the house-heck, it’s your home-and you should have the right to live there and sell “there”… but life doesn’t always have a fairytale ending.

Sometimes the wicked stepchild of the previous owner comes back to claim her inheritance…and sometimes the next-door-ogre snatches a yard of your yard for his compost heap…and sometimes a courthouse clerk misfiles an earlier deed to your property…and then there’s fraud.

Court costs to defend your property rights can pile up higher than your neighbor’s compost. And they stink if you have to pay them yourself. However, for a one-time fee for owner’s title insurance, you can have an all-time alternative ending should someone make a claim against your land.

A title insurance policy cannot prevent a property dispute, but it can provide financial protection should an ownership challenge arise. Owner’s title insurance pays for the legal defense of your title-it pays for attorney’s billable hours and filing fees and other court costs associated with the matter… If that doesn’t work, then title insurance pays the amount insured.

Title insurance is a two-for-one deal-you get two endings for the price of a one-time fee at closing. If someone should challenge your ownership rights to your property, you either get your legal defense and you get to keep your house, or you get your legal defense and you get the policy amount so you can buy a new home (hey, not what we want, but sometimes we have Mr. Grimm writing the fairytale).

A title claim is not a win-win situation, but with title insurance, you can have an ending different from lose your house, lose all your money.

The expense of title insurance is only “once upon a time” at closing, and it brings you peace of mind for your “happily-ever-after”.

If you can afford a house, you cannot not afford to get title insurance. Does that make any sense? What I’m trying to say is that no risk is acceptable if it is avoidable. Risk of financial devastation due to property disputes is avoidable with title insurance.

If there were a mud puddle, would you step in it? Well, if you’re my son, Sterling, you’d not only step in it-you would dive in it! But I wouldn’t step in it, not with your good shoes! Homeowners avoid obvious ownership problems by getting a title search and a survey done before they buy, then they can deal with any questions of boundary lines and ownership entitlement ahead of time.

But some problems you can’t see coming. Some title issues hide in courthouse records, some linger in deeds that never got recorded, some wait with heirs who can procrastinate in making their claims, and every now and then, you get a case of flat out fraud. You can’t see these kinds of things coming, but what you can do is minimize your financial exposure and risk to them with title insurance.

Why spend big money on a lawsuit when you could buy title insurance for a nominal one-time fee? Have you priced attorneys lately? You’re not likely to get a Groupon.

A lawsuit can range in the upwards tens of thousands of dollars… and keep in mind you could still lose your house after fighting for your ownership rights in court. Title insurance, on the other hand, generally costs a few hundred dollars, depending on the value of the property. That’s why I say if you can afford a house, you cannot not afford title insurance-it’s bad English to use a double negative, but it’s worse English if you spend all your money on your legal defense and lose anyway. That’s a double negative!

Like I said, for a few hundred dollars you can buy a title insurance policy that pays for the legal defense of your title, and will pay out the policy amount should that defense fail.

Obviously you don’t want to lose your house in a property title dispute, but you really don’t want to lose it if you’ve paid all your savings, your retirement and your kids’ college fund on the legal defense – then you’ve lost your home and all your money. Cardboard boxes are cheap, but they lack ambiance.

Instead of the double negative, let’s rephrase this issue with a double positive: if you can afford a house, you can afford the title insurance to go with it, then you’re covered in court costs and policy amount of your house, should you need it. Get title insurance and avoid double negatives.

Gladys Mae knew the art of worry. She worried about her husband’s gallbladder, the price of gasoline, and if clothes on her clothesline could be seen from her neighbor’s yard, especially when she washed her girdle. The one thing Glady’s Mae did not worry about was her property title. Glady’s knew that she and her husband, George, owned that house and had the rightful authority to live in it… or to sell it or will it or gift it as they wished.

Oh sure, property disputes could happen—Gladys didn’t deny that, but she didn’t worry about it either. She didn’t worry about her home ownership title because she and George had title insurance.

Title insurance is peace of mind, assuring your financial protection if someone claims that all or part of your property is theirs.

Gladys Mae had worry beads and stones worn smooth from handling, but she didn’t waste these on her home title. If Mr. Huckleberry next door was going to claim part of her clothesline ran across his property, why then she would just call up her title insurance company and have them deal with Mr. Huckleberry… though she might dry her girdles indoors. If some other joker came to the front door and said he owned the whole lot, then he too would have to take up his challenge with her title insurance company.

Gladys Mae didn’t worry about title claims against her ownership because she had title insurance to fight the battles for her in court, and to pay for the related legal fees. She did not waste her time worrying about title claims… she had better things to worry about!

A sower went to buy a field. To decide which field to buy, he took some seed and went forth to sow. Some seeds fell by the wayside and the birds devoured them. Some fell upon rocky soil where they had no roots and they withered and died. And some seeds fell among the weeds and the weeds choked them. But other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth fruit a hundredfold! Thus the sower went and soldeth all that he had to buy the field with good soil. And he bought title insurance to go along with the property.

The sower became a very wealthy man indeed from the harvest of his field with good soil, and soon he had neighbors on every side, but these neighbors were not wise men. One had bought the field by the wayside, and he had no luck at all. Another had bought the rocky field and was very hopeful when the plants first sprang up, but then he was crestfallen when they withered and died. And another man had bought the field of weeds.

A wicked envy arose around the sower’s success. The three unwise neighbors conspired to take his field. The man who owned the wayside claimed that the property survey was incorrect and that one-third of the sower’s field was actually on his land. The man on rocky soil claimed his late grandmother had left one-third of the sower’s field to him. And the man with the weed patch claimed that one-third of the sower’s field was his easement. In this way, the three unwise men planned to divide the sower’s field amongst them. They would not only get his land, but would break the sower of his wealth as he tried to defend his ownership in a court of law.

The sower listened to their claims…and then he unfolded a lawyer from his title insurance policy. The sower’s title insurance provided legal representation in defense of his land ownership rights, and in so doing, protected his financial interest in the property. Because that policy covered legal fees, the sower did not have to ply his wealth in court costs regarding these property challenges.

In the end, the neighbors could not withstand the legal battles they had waged. The one by the wayside hit the road. The one on the rocky ground started a band. And the third got busted for his weed. The wise sower who had title insurance to financially protect his field of good soil continued to reap a wealthy harvest, and he lived and worked carefree of property disputes.

The sower who had title insurance on his good soil reaped a wealthy harvest regardless of property disputes. http://bit.ly/Sower_and_Title_Insurance