Owner’s vs. Lender’s Title Insurance: What You Need To Know

Shopping for a home means coming to understand Owner’s Title Insurance vs. Lender’s Title Insurance. It also means learning about home inspections, appraisals, title searches, and other steps inform buyers and sellers of possible complications with the sale. Homeowners need to understand mechanisms built to protect them, such as owner’s title insurance.

Title Insurance Basics 

Before discussing the difference between owner’s and lender’s title insurance, it helps to understand the basic facts about how this kind of insurance works. What does it protects against? Title insurance is itself a simple concept with a long history. It exists in many countries, although outside the United States it is not a standard part of every real estate sale. In the U.S., lender’s insurance is a legal requirement of a sale. And only owner’s insurance is optional.

The reason many other countries use title insurance more sparingly than the U.S. comes down to a difference in the way deeds are recorded. In the U.S., the registrar of deeds in most states does not guarantee an indefeasible title.

Title Insurance Requirements

The requirements of coverage protections for title insurance are mostly similar from state to state, with small variances. There are a variety of ways to check on the requirements for coverage in a given state. The simplest usually involves consulting the state government’s page for the topic. In every state, parties to the transaction will be required to purchase a lender’s policy when receiving financing for the purchase of the property.

Owner’s Title Insurance vs. Lender’s Title Insurance  

Owner’s title insurance protects the owner from claims against the title that predate the purchase of the property. And lender’s title insurance protects the lender. That is the primary difference between the two. In many cases, the coverage provided will be identical. And that is due mostly to the basic kinds of issues this insurance covers being standard, and including the following:

• Debt claims against the property
• Contractors’ claims for the cost of work to improve the property
• Unknown co-owners or heirs
• Tax liens

Some owner’s policies include options for additional coverage for a variety of circumstances. This additional coverage comes at a cost. But if there is a significant risk involved, it might be worthwhile to upgrade the coverage.

How Should Buyers Approach Title Insurance?

There’s not a lot of marketing toward consumers to provide them with background information about the product. Here are a few things every buyer needs to know:

• Title insurance is often regulated, but not always. In a regulated market, prices tend to be very similar from provider to provider. Differences often revolve around the exact coverages offered.
• Typical coverage includes fraud, forgery, unknown or undisclosed heirs of previous owners, and spousal claims on the property. Coverage beyond those basics will require additional costs beyond the baseline estimate. Like other title insurance costs, they are a one-time fee.
• The party responsible for paying for the insurance policy varies from state to state. In some, the buyer must pay for both policies. In others, the seller pays for one or both. Buyers need to investigate this obligation for themselves.
• Buyers have the right to select the company for both lender’s and owner’s title insurance policies. If the seller is pushing a recommendation, buyers can choose it, but do your homework.

What Are the Consequences of Forgoing Insurance?

There are things that can go wrong in a real estate transaction. There are many ways the previous owner might wind up with claims on the property. Examples are using it as an asset to secure financing, costs for improvements and repairs, co-owners and others who might have a claim, and unforeseen tax liabilities.

Things to Consider When Choosing Insurance

Owner’s title insurance policies provide help when any issues arise from the property’s title changing hands, even if they do not arise immediately. One can expect any major title insurance company to step in and provide help if a challenge to the sale’s validity arises or if a claim is against a portion of the home’s value.

Where the differences matter most are in the preliminary title search and due diligence before the purchase. The law resource NOLO notes that finding the best, most robust choice for a title search can avert many problems down the road.

Should I Get Title Insurance?

Title insurance is a one-time cost. It provides peace of mind for the duration of one’s ownership of a property. While the chances of a problem with the title arising after closing might seem small, the consequences may be too great to ignore. Please give serious consideration as to whether or not to buy owner’s title insurance.

https://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/6-questions-to-ask-about-title-insurance-1.aspx

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/title-insurance-buyer-needs-36126.html