When buying real estate, you may wonder to yourself why you need title insurance. While this sounds like a waste of money, there’s something you need to know: A search can go a long way in uncovering problems. Furthermore, insurance will protect you in the event that an issue comes to light once you finalize the purchase.
Here are some of the more common real estate title problems:
- Public record error. It’s possible that a filing or clerical error could impact the survey or deed.
- Unknown lien against the property. Even though a lien on the property is not the result of anything you did wrong, once you’re the owner, it’s your problem.
- Forgeries. This sounds farfetched, but it remains a problem in today’s world. A forced document could impact property ownership.
- Survey or boundary disputes. Does more than one survey of your property exist? If so, you need to get to the bottom of this. The last thing you want is for a neighbor to stake claim to your property.
- Unknown easement. An unknown easement could prevent you from using your land as you wish.
As you can see, there are quite a few real estate title problems that could eventually move to the forefront. You hope that this never turns into an issue when buying a property, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
In addition to purchasing title insurance, make sure you focus on the results of the title search before completing the transaction. Knowing your legal rights as a buyer could save you a lot of time and money down the road.
Source: First American, “10 Common Title Problems,” accessed Dec. 22, 2017