The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Real Estate and Landlording => Topic started by: tiger002 on December 03, 2016, 09:38:30 AM
-
Please forgive my ignorance on this topic, I tried to use the search feature to find this information, but didn't see it.
I am in the process of buying my first home. It is a condo about 10 years old and the person who I'm buying it from has had it since it was new. So I need to figure out if I want to buy title insurance. In this case, it feels like there is a low risk of anything going wrong. It's not being bought at a short sale or an auction, hasn't changed hands a lot etc. Are there other things that I should take into account when making this decision?
Also, it is my understanding that the title company should check to see if there are any liens or anything like that on the title, so I'd basically be paying for insurance in case they mess up, which doesn't feel right. Maybe I'm overlooking something here though.
-
I think the answer is: you should always buy title insurance. It's cheap (in relation to the cost of the real estate). Title conflicts are not cheap.
Sure, the current owner of the condo has owned it since new. Was he/she divorced? Did title pass cleanly? What about the developer that built it? What about the farmer that owned the field before it was developed?
You're paying to make sure the title is clean *and* that any research in the past by previous title companies was also done correctly *and* to handle litigation in case something was ever found to be wrong.
-
+1 on title insurance (and usually required by the lender). It is the cheapest insurance policy you hope to never use. AND... considering it is a condo where you own inside but not outside, buy the insurance.
-
I have bought properties with and without title insurance. There is little risk with this transaction. You can get a title quote and anything that is fishy will be excluded from the policy.
You can buy it or not. What they cover is to fix the title, not pay off any liens.