No one likes paying insurance premiums. Whether you’re protecting your home, your car, your valuable personal property, or another asset, you’re asked for another payment every month, quarter, or year.
But one type of insurance can protect your greatest asset with no ongoing premiums after you’ve bought it. That insurance is title insurance, and you only pay for it one time: when you close on your new home.
And it protects your home ownership for as long as you own your home, no matter how many years that may be.
What Title Insurance Does
Title insurance protects the title, which is another word for ownership, of your home. If months or years after closing, someone challenges ownership—say, from a divorce or contested previous sale—your title insurance policy and the title company behind it protect you. If a century-old municipal document reveals that your property was tabbed for a school that was never built but still government-owned, you’re protected.
Your title insurance policy is paid once, at closing, and there are no fees or charges after that.
Note that, if you have a loan, your lender will mandate that you purchase a loan policy that protects them. It’s highly recommended that you also buy a fee policy, which will protect you against any disputes on title/ownership. In fact, many real estate attorneys require buyers to purchase this protection—or sign an affidavit absolving them if any issues arise later.
What Does Title Insurance Cost and How Long Does It Last?
Title insurance rates are set by the government, which means that a policy from any title insurance policy will cost the same amount.
There is one option that buyers should strongly consider: Because a basic title policy only covers the amount of the purchase price, buyers should add an additional endorsement that accounts for inflation if something happens to challenge the title in the future.
As long as you own the home, your owner’s (fee) policy remains in force. If you sell your home or gift it to someone, your policy will no longer be in force and a new one will be needed. If you refinance your property, the new lender will require a new loan policy, but your fee policy will remain intact as long as the ownership does not change.
One more reassurance: If the original title company merges with another firm or goes out of business, the national underwriter that holds the policy will still provide the same protection. Homeowners will be informed in the rare event that their original title company no longer exists.
Why Choose Cornerstone
Since title insurance costs will be the same no matter which title company the buyer uses, it makes sense to select a title company based on the additional value they bring to the buying and ownership process.
Cornerstone adds value to protect buyers in two ways.
First, we provide the highest level of due diligence, searching obscure records and verifying judgments to help ensure that no obscure claims threaten the title to the property. We don’t just take the seller’s word that an ex-spouse has renounced all claims to the property or that no liens exist.
Second, we add value for homebuyers from day one. Involve Cornerstone early in the buying process, and we can recommend vetted professionals for every type of real estate service. With the experience gained from more than 16,000 transactions, we know which professionals share our values of efficient, ethical, responsive, and proactive service.
We have no business relationship with the professionals we recommend and earn no commissions or fees.
There’s a reason why Cornerstone has a five-star rating from Google reviews. The earlier you include us in the buying process, the more we can help. If the American Dream of homeownership is important to you, please let us help you make your dream a reality.
