Colony Title Group, Ltd.

Most people don’t realize that the price of most properties can fluctuate as much as your area’s climate change. It’s important to be aware of this since climate change can also have an adverse affect on your ROI. Here are some tips on assessing climate change.

If you have questions, the Maryland real estate insurance experts at Colony Title Associates can be reached by calling 410 884-1160 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

Colony Title specializes in real estate title insurance, real estate settlement services, and real estate closings in Baltimore, Columbia, Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia. Our staff consists of licensed Title Insurance Agents, Real Estate Agents, Settlement Processors, & Attorneys to handle all of your real estate needs.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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How Does Climate Change Affect Real Estate

Interest rates are near an all-time low and the market is starting to show signs of life, giving homebuyers hope that NOW may be a good time to buy a home. But before you jump at the opportunity to begin house hunting, remember this: home buying is anything but an exact science. Still, there are more than a few tips and tricks that can help you finish on top.

Home Buying Tips

1. Research the Community: Remember the old adage: location, location, location! Besides the obvious fact that you want to settle in a superb location, knowing the community can also help you in the negotiation process. What are comparable homes selling for? Are they receiving multiple offers? Are the selling for more or less than asking price? All of this information will help you make a realistic offer.
2. Preapproved: Before you even think of making an offer, get preapproved for a mortgage. It puts you in a good bargaining position with the seller and lets you know what you can and cannot afford.
3. The Negotiation: Be prepared to negotiate, not just the initial price, but after inspections are completed if items come up that you hadn’t anticipated.
4.  Contingency Time Frames: Be sure to include realistic contingency time frames in your contract if you are applying for a mortgage.
5. Title Insurance: If a previous owner perpetrated a fraud, committed a forgery or the clerk of the land records failed to record or recorded incorrectly, the purchaser is unprotected without owners title insurance. With the coverage, the title insurance company incurs the expense of determining the validity of a claim and defending against the claim. If there is a title defect, the title insurance company pays the claim so that the purchaser retains ownership without loss, or compensates the owner for any and all losses incurred as a result.

We at Colony Title want to be your Title Company and real estate law firm. For additional information, please contact Tee Tillman at 410.884.1160 ext. 3007 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Sources:

8 things to know about buying a home today

Before any property is transferred from the seller to the buyer, a title search must be conducted. A title search includes the following:

• A real estate attorney researches the land records in the county court house
• A real estate attorney documents the chain of ownership of the property

A title search helps identify all owners, outstanding liens, encumbrances, encroachments, rights of way, easements, etc. associated with the property. Title searches are designed to eliminate most of the risk of the transaction…most of the risk, but not all of it.

This is where Owner’s Title Insurance comes into play.

Something could be missed or overlooked during the title search, which could result in a claim being presented at a later date.

So how is Title Insurance different from other Insurance Policies?

Unlike other insurance policies, title insurance protects you against events that occurred before the policy was purchased as long as the title defect was not discovered at the time of the title search.

We at Colony Title want to be your Title Company and real estate law firm. For additional information, please contact Tee Tillman at 410.884.1160 ext. 3007 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Title insurance is one of the least understood, yet incredibly necessary insurance policies around. Because of this, we have covered what is title insurance, the benefits of title insurance, is title insurance required when buying a home, the importance of choosing your own title company, and how to choose a title insurance company, all in previous blogs. But one question we have not adequately covered is What Does Title Insurance Cover?

Standard coverage handles such risks as:

• Forgery and impersonation;
• Lack of competency, capacity or legal authority of a party;
• Deed not joined in by a necessary party (co-owner, heir, spouse, corporate officer, or business partner);
• Undisclosed (but recorded) prior mortgage or lien;
• Undisclosed (but recorded) easement or use restriction;
• Erroneous or inadequate legal descriptions;
• Lack of a right of access; and
• Deed not properly recorded.

Extended coverage policy may be needed to protect against such additional defects as:

• Off-record matters, such as claims for adverse possession or prescriptive easement;
• Deed to land with buildings encroaching on land of another;
• Incorrect survey;
• Silent (off-record) liens (such as mechanics’ or estate tax liens); and
• Pre-existing violations of subdivision laws, zoning ordinances or CC&R’s.
• Post-policy forgery;
• Forced removal of improvements due to lack of building permit (subject to deductible);
• Post-policy construction of improvements by a neighbor onto insured land; and
• Location and dimensions of insured land (survey not required).

We at Colony Title want to be your title company and real estate law firm. For additional information, please contact Tee Tillman at 410.884.1160 ext. 3007 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Before we go any further, yes, Owner’s Title Insurance is optional, unlike Lender’s Title Insurance, which is required. And although Owner’s Title Insurance is optional, that does not mean it is not important.

A Lender’s Title Insurance protects the lender from any title claims that may arise. In no way does Lender’s Title Insurance cover YOU. This is where Owner’s Title Insurance comes into play. A one-time payment covers you for as long as you own the property. And the cost of the owner’s title insurance premium is modest in comparison with the potential loss from a claim. Whereas a legal defense of property title may start at $5,000, you can get Title Insurance with Endorsements for a handful of hundreds.

Still, despite the tremendous upside of Owner’s Title Insurance, few homeowners or homebuyers know what Owner’s Title Insurance is!

The Benefits of Owner’s Title Insurance

A title search is performed on each transaction. The title records are only as good as the documents recorded. If a previous owner perpetrated a fraud, committed a forgery or the clerk of the land records failed to record or recorded incorrectly, the purchaser is unprotected without owners title insurance.

With the coverage, the title insurance company incurs the expense of determining the validity of a claim and defending against the claim. If there is a title defect, the title insurance company pays the claim so that the purchaser retains ownership without loss, or compensates the owner for any and all losses incurred as a result.

Title Insurance is a one-time fee, there’s no deductible, and it covers you for the lifetime you hold financial interest in the property!

We at Colony Title want to be your title company and real estate law firm. For additional information, please contact Tee Tillman at 410.884.1160 ext. 3007 or visit ColonyTitle.com today!

About Colony Title Associates:

Founded in 1995, Colony Title Group handles in excess of 2000 real estate closings per year in the central Maryland area. The founder Tee Tillman has over 23 years experience in the title and real estate law fields. Colony handles closings for several lenders, including banks, credit unions and mortgage brokers. Colony is the preferred choice for many real estate brokers in the area.

You can also follow Colony Title on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.