Property Titles

about-1Buying or selling a home is, for most people, the largest financial endeavor they will ever undertake. You need to secure the professional services of a title company to efficiently and accurately handle this complex transaction. Lawyers Title Company has been helping to settle real estate loans for buyers and borrowers in Texas for more than 30 years. That’s why you need a title company that has a solid reputation in the real estate industry with many repeat customers.

The title company will do an “abstract of title” which means searching the real estate records in the county where that particular piece of property is located. An abstract will (1) determine the legal owner of the property; (2) reveal any mortgages, liens, judgments, or unpaid taxes that will have to be satisfied before the property is conveyed; and (3) detail any existing easements, restrictions, or leases that affect the property.

Title Commitment

After the search is completed, the title company will issue a commitment for title insurance. The title insurance commitment will set forth all things that need to be completed, and any problems that need to be corrected before the sale or refinace can be complete.

Title Insurance

about-2Title insurance is protection against loss arising from problems connected to the title to your property. Before you purchased your home, it may have gone through several ownership changes, and the land on which it stands went through many more. There may be a weak link at any point in that chain that could emerge to cause trouble. For example, someone along the way may have forged a signature in transferring title. Or there may be unpaid real estate taxes or other liens. Title insurance covers the insured party against loss that could arise out of such problems.

 

Just as lenders require fire insurance and other types of insurance coverage to protect their investment, nearly all institutional lenders also require title insurance to protect their interest in the collateral of loans secured by real estate. Some mortgage lenders, especially non-institutional lenders, may not require title insurance.