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 step-child 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 an 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.”
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