Colony Title Group, Ltd.

Getting Title Insurance is a requisite for purchasing your first home. Though it’s a requirement, there are specialized terms that could be esoteric to many interested in real estate purchases. Regardless, it’s important to know some of these terms before you purchase any title insurance.

Title Insurance Terminology

•  Title Insurance: A loss-prevention insurance policy designed to protect you against legal defects in the title that happened prior to purchase.
• Owner’s Policy: This insurance policy covers  the homeowner.
  
• Lender’s Policy ( Mortgage Insurance): This insurance policy cover’s the mortgage lender.
  
• ALTA:  When it comes to purchasing title insurance, you will hear this term quite often. ALTA, American Land Title Association, is the leading trade association of title insurers. Throughout the U.S, ALTA policies are widely utilized and preferred by credible lenders.  Be aware of ALTA Residential and ALTA Homeowner’s policies before digging into residential property transactions.
  
• Escrow: This term refers to the funds that you provided as earnest money when you made the initial offer on the property. Your escrow holder, normally a title insurance company like Colony Title Group, places these funds into a special account. Once all obligations related to your property are met, these funds will get released. Typically, this step happens during a property closing.
• Titles Search:  Title agencies, like Colony Title Group, perform a thorough check of public records to make sure that the property is legally available for sale.
  
• Title Report: A report that contains the results of the title search.
• Abstract of Title: A document that shows the complete ownership history of a piece of property. This type of document normally has a listing of all past property owners, mortgages and liens.
• Encumberances: Legal interest in the land which may or may not affects its value. Normally, encumberances take the form of zoning ordinances, claims or unpaid taxes.
  
• Lien: A financial claim to the property. Essentially, this takes the form of mortgages, mechanic or contractor liens. It’s imperative to have liens paid off before a mortgage lender will even allow the property sale to take place.
  

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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Title Insurance Terms to Know

Title insurance is like a game of chess, you have to make the right move in order to get checkmate.

To a great extent, securing property title insurance is an exercising a simple move in a chess game. Just as if you move your knight into the area of your opponent, title insurance companies refuse to insure properties with a history of legal uncertainties. Accordingly, the title examiner combs the records with an expert eye and identifies any potential problems, such as an unpaid tax assessment or a neighbor’s easement for right-of-way according to property right of way laws. The examiner then issues a preliminary report called a commitment, which lists these defects and informs you of any problems that the seller must correct prior to closing. If the company isn’t willing to cover a particular matter and the seller can’t or won’t correct it, you have a choice whether to live with the problem or bow out of the deal. If a title insurer refuses to write the policy at all, you can bet that the seller can’t give you good title.

That’s why it’s important to know not only what your title insurance will cover, but also what it won’t: what scenarios might arise in the future that would challenge your ownership of the property title deed. This chapter offers an introduction to titles, title insurance and various encumbrances that could endanger your ability to enjoy your home.

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 a form of indemnity insurance predominantly found in the United States which insures against financial loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity or unenforceable of mortgage liens. Title insurance is principally a product developed and sold in the United States as a result of an alleged comparative deficiency of the U.S. land records laws. It is meant to protect an owner’s or a lender’s financial interest in real property against loss due to title defects, liens or other matters. It will defend against a lawsuit attacking the title as it is insured, or reimburse the insured for the actual monetary loss incurred, up to the dollar amount of insurance provided by the policy. The first title insurance company, the Law Property Assurance and Trust Society, was formed in Pennsylvania in 1853.  The vast majority of title insurance policies are written on land within the United States.

Typically the real property interests insured are fee simple ownership or a mortgage. However, title insurance can be purchased to insure any interest in real property, including an easement, leaser life estate.

Trust Colony Title Associates!

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.

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! Also reach us via Twitter