Title Insurance

Look here: http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Vehicle/Fees.htm Remember: brand new cars get registered for 4 years, so multiply that by 4 - unless you transfer title from your trade-in - then it's just a year. Also: http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/Vehicle/VehiclesTitles.htm you will be charged extra $20. Dealers usually charge much more than that leaving a hefty margin for themselves. On the other hand, doing-it-yourself requires A LOT of time and headache.

No, a Title Agency or individual producer cannot use an Underwriter's authority to sell title insurance unless that agency or individual producer is an employee of the Underwriter and the Underwriter also acts as an agency in the state it is doing business in. 1. A Title Insurance AGENT is the business who acts in behalf of an Underwriter. 2. A Title Insurance COMPANY/UNDERWRITER is the company who issues title insurance. Example: John Doe decided to open a Title Agency, but in order to do that, he must sign an agency agreement with an Underwriter to act as an agent for that underwriter. Once the agreement is in place and all conditions of the agreement have been met, John Doe may now go solicit business for that Underwriter under his newly created Title Agency. Can he sell title insurance in behalf of the underwriter without being licensed? The answer is yes and no. Some states require that a Title Agency and its principal (primary owner) be licensed specifically for title insurance. Other states have no licensing requirements to operate as a Title Agency. The best 2 resources to find out what your State requires for agency licensing are: 1. Department of Insurance (in your state) 2. Title Insurance Underwriter authorized to do business in your state

You create a business entity, filing with the Secretary of State's Office, which cost may vary depending on the type of entity you wish. If you strictly wish to sell title insurance, then you fill out a license application with the Department of Insurance, attend their mandatory training (contact the Indiana Department of Insurance for more info) and pay the required fees. Additional Requirements for title insurance companies may be found under Indiana Code 27-7-3 (Type into Google to find it.), including new laws that were passed in 2008. Most of that section applies to companies wanting to write insurance, but I would read it just the same.

Any property is considered to have the right to ingress and egress. "Landlocked" property would be a cloud on the title. The Title Agent should have discovered this in the search if there were no rights for ingress or egress recorded or included in the Legal description. File a claim with the attorney or title agent's underwriter. It is irrelevant what was included in the contract. Sue the title company and the seller/homebuilder. The seller should never have put the house on the market with an unclear title. The title company should have done their job properly. You say you THOUGHT you had a right of way. Was there anything in the contract for sale or deed that indicates it exists or did you just THINK it did? Is there actually a cloud on the title? Get your ducks in a row before you start filing lawsuits against anyone. You may not have a case if you have no documentation, at the very least you will need a reliable witness who heard the seller or his agent tell you there was a right of way. The property was cleared right? Witnesses and documentation is good, but if the title was cleared by the title company, they are at fault because they did not do their job - therefor they can be sued! Yes, get your ducks in a row, but get a lawyer and start the process now. I have a very dear friend who is experiencing the same exact thing. They moved into a house that ended up not having a clear title - even though the title was cleared. They were advised by the lawyer to sue the homebuilder (seller) and the title company. My point is that what you thought was included in the deal is irrelevant if it is not mentioned in the contract. When you buy a car, you may assume there is a spare tire and jack in the trunk, but the deal is still valid if there isn't. The title to the property may be good, but still not include everything the buyer expected. A consultation with a lawyer should be your second step. Of course, the first thing to do is get advice from this site ;>) We are talking about the title right? Not the contract or what is in the house, but you asked about the title being improperly cleared. The purpose of a title company is to check for leins against the house (anything that causes the title to NOT be free and clear for a sale). What happened in your case: the title was not free and clear, YET the title company cleared it. So you don't get to move in (if you already have, you are paying mortgage on a house you can't ever resell until this title becomes clear). This is a very different situation from a car or other item. We are talking about real estate and the laws are very different. If the seller knew the title was not free and clear before putting it up for sale, they are liable. The title company is already liable for their mistake. In my friends case, the title company is paying for the lawyer because they know they are in trouble already. Talk to your real estate agent, he/she knows a lot more than anyone here about the property laws in your state. File a claim against the Title Agency and their Underwriter. DO NOT CONSULT YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT. A real estate agent cannot give you LEGAL advise, only an attorney can do that. So hire an attorney if you need legal advise.

Two types of title insurance coverage: 1. Mortgage Policy - Covers the Primary Lender for the life of the loan. As the loan is paid down, the coverage goes down with it. When the loan is paid off (either through life of loan payments or refinance) the Policy is no longer in affect. 2. Owner's Policy - Covers the new owner for the history and prior owner acts affecting the property. Owner's Policy is in effect for as long as the new, current owner owns the property 1 year or 100 years. Acts of new owner after issuance are not covered, only prior owner acts at time of purchase. Since each property is unique, the coverage is unique to the property. "Standard" coverage insures the history of the property If a issue creates a cloud on title (marketability, loanability,etc.), that will be shown on the title report along with requirements needed to address the cloud (tax sales, old mortgages,etc). If an issue cannot be removed from title, the buyer has the option of not purchasing the property or accepting it with the known defect and the title agency will "except" that defect from coverage ie: not insure it. Title insurance is non-transferrable. If you sell the property, you cannot transfer your Policy to the new owner. A Lender, however, can usually assign the Loan Policy coverage to an assign or purchasor of the loan if they have purchased Secondary Market coverage at the time the Policy was issed and the original terms, conditions and original loan amount has not changed as part of the purchase of the loan.

A manager of a title company is not required to be licensed title agent. Only persons actually issuing policies are required to be licensed. Check with your particular state's requirement. In many states, there must be a full-time, licensed title producer onsite during regular business hours in a title AGENCY. Therefore, if that is your state's requirement for a title AGENCY, the answer is YES. Ditto, a licensed title producer's license may be required as a title examiner/title officer, reading title and issuing final policies. However, in some states, if you are a foreign corporation or LLC doing business in that state (meaning you are licensed there, but do not have a physical presence there) ONLY the entity license (office license) and individual holding the entity license must be licensed and registered as title producer. The out-of-state examiners do not have to hold a license in that state and if their home state does not have licensing, they can exam and issue in the foreign state. Again, check with your state's DOBI or DOI as to their requirements. Every state is different. For example, New York does not have licensing requirements at all, however, the Notaries are required to pass a state exam in order to be issued their Notary Public commission. New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvannia have specific licensing rules as to foreign corps/LLCs as I am sure other states do as well.

Title insurance is non-refundable as long as a Policy is issued. If a Policy was paid for and never issued you may elect to: 1. Ask for the final Policy to be issued 2. Ask for a refund and forgo the insurance coverage. Let me clarify the difference between Construction Title Policy and Owner's Title Policy. The Construction Rate is issued typically to the BUILDER during the construction period until the structure is completed and closed with the end buyer (you). At the time of the purchase closing from the builder to you, the Construction Rate is calculated as a "pre-paid" against the final Owner's Policy fees, offsetting and typically lowering the amount you pay for the Owner's Policy. This is the typical rate structure in MOST states. Check with the issuing Agency to see if you received credit at time of closing. If it is allowed or standard proceedure in your state and you did NOT receive it, then you can ask for the difference to be paid directly to you. You can ask for a copy of the title invoice and go over it line by line with the Title Agency. NOTE: In some states, the construction rate is not credited against the final Owner Policy rate and is considered a completely separate fee.

Notice should have been given to the homeowner by the mortgageholder letting them know that the balance on the mortgage had not been paid. At that point the title company could have been contacted and the matter should have been cleared up before the mortgage holder could finalize foreclosure proceedings. Therefore, I do not believe that the title company could have caused a mortgage foreclosure.

At least in Ohio, the answer is yes. A new loan policy of title insurance is needed by the lender because they want to be insured up to the new loan amount. If this refinance is within 10 years of the date you initially took out the loan, your title company may be willing to give you a "re-issue rate", which is about a 30% discount.

You need to ask your lender. If they are re-writing the existing loan, they may simply ask for upgraded Mortgage policy and have you pay the difference for the new loan amount based on the local rates/fees.

If you are paying off the existing loan, then they will require a new Mortgage Policy. You must remember that a Mortgage Policy is only good for the life of the loan, so once it is paid in full (even from a refinance with the same bank) the mortgage title policy ceases to exist.

Most states offer a refinance rate which is calculated on the new loan vs the original amount of the current loan.

The above answer is pretty thorough - just check with your lender/local title agency to find out what the fees are for your state.

It won't affect the lender's lien position but their policy. Most lenders won't close the loan if the bankruptcy has not been discharged. If you have been given the discharged paper, you can give a copy of it to the lender and the title company so that they have it in their records.

According to the Florida Department of Banking and Insurance, the answer is YES. The business entities remain be separate: they must be clearly identifed as "ABC Mortgage Co" and "123 Title Agency" when you walk in the door. If you are using employees for cross functions within the two businesses ie: Sara the title agent is also Sara the mortgage receptionist, you may want to call the FLDOBI in order to make sure you are not violating the separate entity requirement.

A Title Insurance company cannot force you to purchase an Owner's Title Insurance Policy. However, if you are obtaining a Mortgage or using a Lender for a refinance,then the Lender will require that they are protected by a Lender's Title Insurance Policy, which the borrower will pay for. If you are purchasing a new property, it is usually suggested that you purchase an Owner's Policy at the same time the Lender is being issued a policy. All Title Insurance underwriters offer a Simultaneous Issue price when the Owner's Policy and Lender's Policy are issued at the same time. You may want to shop around, where the State you live in sets the premium for one Policy, the price for the Simultaneous issued policy may vary greatly from Title agent to Title agent. For cash purchases you are not required to purchase Title Insurance, but you will have a very hard time getting a Title Company to close the sale as the most income for Title Companies is the portion of the title insurance premium they get to retain. ("Title Agent" in this answer can be a Real Estate Attorney or Title Inurance Company) = Comment = A title agency may be willing to act as a 3rd party uninterested Settlement/Escrow agent in a cash transaction. It is not uncommon to use a title agency for this service vs an attorney (depending on your standard local practices in your state/county). The title agent will receive funds from the buyer and conduct the signing of documents, disburse all payoffs, pay taxes, etc. and send the documents in for recording. The title agency receives a fee for acting as the settlement agent, but does not guarentee the condition of the property title you are closing in this scenario. In lieu of an Owner's Policy for coverage, you may want at the very least, a Report on Title (Title Opinion in some states), whereas the title agency has done the standard searches on the property and presents it in Report form, without any insurance coverage. This allows the Buyer to know the true condition of the property's title prior to closing and if there have been past issues in deed/title, they may or may not elect to go with an Owner's Policy to protect their interests in the property they are buying. Lenders will always require a Loan Policy on a purchase or 1st lien refinance, and typically on a standard 2nd mortgage. Depending on the amount of a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC), they may or may not require coverage on this type of loan.

I am a Title Insurance Agent in Florida. I earn $46,000 per year. I have 2 years experience and work for a small company.

You will need to apply for your individual producer's license. Once that is issued, you will need to submit your entity (business) producers application which must also attach to an individual producer's license. Overall licensing will take several months to get back the individual and the entity license.

During that time you can:

1. Register your new business with the State of NJ.

2. Set up meetings with potential Underwriters to interview with them and get their application packets

3. Research the costs of E & O insurance

4. Wait for your license to come back

5. Look for a very good title examiner and key personell if you don't already have one

6. Let everyone and their brother know you are going to open a title agency and you want their business

7. Wait for your license to come back

8. Set up an account with SnapClose.com for a title production system (the Title Geek's software of choice, btw)

9. Set up accounts with searchers like Charles Jones, etc.

10. Wait for your license to come back

11. Design your business and workflow plans

12. Repeat Steps 2-10

When your entity license FINALLY comes back, you finalize your agency contracts, Pay $1000's for your E&O, hire your core staff, get some business cards and stationary made up, hang the sign on the door and you are now a Title Agency.

13. Complete 48 hours of Continuing Education Courses every 4 year licensing period.

A contract which indemnifies an employer for losses caused by dishonest or fraudulent acts of employees.

If you have recently purchase a property and paid for an Owner's Policy, that policy will be sent to you or your attorney as soon as the Title Agency is in the position to insure the title. This typically happens after all conditions of loan and purchase have been satisfied and the Deed, Mortgage and any other recordable documents have been received and indexed by your County or City Clerk.

If you purchased a property and paid for title insurance, but never received a copy, you can simply contact the title agency that did the work and request a copy. If they do not provide you with your requested copy, contact their insurance underwriter and they will resolve the issue and make sure you are provided with a copy of the policy.

An Owner's Policy is good for a long as you own the insured property, whether that be 1 year or 100 years. Title insurance is non-transferrable and insures your interests against the "history" of the property, such as prior owner's acts, mortgages, liens, etc.

1. Register your new business entity and name with State of NJ (LLC, Corp, etc.)

2. Obtain title producer's license or hire someone with an existing title producer's license.

3. Apply for entity producer's license (the business must be licensed in addition to someone having an individual producer's license)

4. Contact Underwriters to sign agency agreement with while waiting for NJDOBI to process entity license.

5. Obtain Errors and Ommission Insurance coverage.

6. Design and set up title office.

7. Obtain title production software ie: www.SnapClose.com or other software

8. Hire experienced Senior Title Officer (examiner)

9. Open doors when entity license and agency agreement is signed, sealed and delivered.

Title insurance is insurance against loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity or unenforceability of mortgage liens. It is available in many countries but it is principally a product developed and sold in the United States. It is meant to protect an owner's or 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. 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, lease or life estate. 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.

A buyer should insist upon title insurance, even with a warranty deed, because it will help avoid having to pay to quiet title or obtain a refund from the seller when it turns out they never actually owned the property rights described in the deed.

An owner's title policy is a one-time expense and effective for the entire period that the buyer owns the property.

The fees for title insurance are specific to the area where the property is located. Some states have regulated fees, other states do not. Therefore, you need to contact your local title agency. If you are in a non-regulated state, the rate charged is a "market rate" meaning that most of the agencies are competitive in their rates, but can modify the rate for each transaction. So each transaction could be different as to what rate is charged. In regulated states, the fees are filed by the Title Underwriting Companies and then monitored by the State. The fees cannot vary and discounting/overcharging is illegal. As far as the actual MATH - most rates are based on a per $1000 rate. So, a per $1000 rate of $3.50 on a $200,000.00 purchase would be calcuated like this: (rate) x 200 = $700 premium Add to the PREMIUM, search charges, endorsements required by the lender, recording fees, etc = final Title Invoice Most agents will happily give you a quote for your specific transaction if you simply contact them. Here is more from WikiAnswers contributors: * I'm a mortgage broker and the closing agents I use charge $2.50 per thousand financed for a refinance and $3.50 per thousand financed for a purchase.

== == I'd say contact the Secretary of State.

• You must have a NJ resident title producer's license or have a NJ resident producer on staff or a NJ Licensed Attorney that holds a NJ title insurance producer's license.
• You must obtain an entity producer license for the business
• Put in application for agency agreements with Underwriters and be accepted by an Underwriter
• Obtain E&O Insurance
• Have knowledge of the business or have knowledgable KEY staff (your underwriter will require it)
• Buy business equipment & a good title software system like Snapclose Pro
• Set up your office, interview staff, hire staff.
• Sign your agency agreements once the state sends back the entity producer's license
• Open your doors

A title insurance COMPANY is the actual underwriting company or insurer. A title insurance AGENCY is the local guy providing services by his Underwriter. Just like your local car insurance AGENT who writes for an insurance COMPANY. The title underwriting industry is ranked by Demotech. Demotech is a national independent actuarial service firm that rates the financial stability of all P&C insurance providers within the United States. Demotech?s Financial Stability Analysis Model, which determines the financial stability of insurers, has been accepted by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), since 1989.

The policy purchased on refinance covers the new lender, not you. Your title insurance (assuming you got an owners policy when you purchased) remains intact unless you have done something to end the coverage. Two types of Policies are typically issued on residential properties: Mortgage Policy and Owner's Policy. Mortgage Policy covers the lender for the life of the loan. If a new loan number is issued and the current mortgage is paid off, then a new Policy is required. The life of the loan is for as long as the LOAN is in effect. Any time a new loan is obtained and the current loan is paid off, a new Mortgage Policy will be issued. However, the refinance rate is typically lower than the basic rate you may have paid at closing. Owner's Policy protects your interest in the property for as long as you own the property, be that 1 year or 100. It is a one-time fee. However, typically a mortgage policy can be assigned to another lender if the mortgage is sold or assigned on the secondary market. (Note: the loan number would be the same, only the "owner" of the mortgage has changed.)