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Are you confused about title insurance in Florida? This article will provide you with a walkthrough of the closing process and outline what you should know about title insurance in Florida.
For most people, buying a home is one of the largest financial debts that they will incur. Moreover, one of the key points in building wealth is home ownership. Throughout the home purchase process and especially during closing, many folks are confronted with an onslaught of terminology and processes that are foreign to them, particularly if they are buying a home for the first time. Many times, the closing process is foreign to home buyers as they only have the minimum of understand concerning their obligations and right and what the outcome will result in.
Closing transactions in Florida are conducted by a title insurance agent, a notary and/or an attorney. Additionally, in ensuring the purchase of title insurance in Florida, your attorney or title insurance agent will facilitate the complete closing. The title agency managing your closing, will hold in escrow all funds including earnest money until the time of disbursement.
Do you know your responsibility as a home buyer?
What about the seller?
Is there a way for you to save money on your closing?
The following are most commonly asked questions regarding title insurance. We’ve also included a few horror stories showing how such hidden hazards can arise unexpectedly and threaten homeownership. We hope that this information will help you to better understand the value of title insurance in protecting your homeownership.
In the course of closing, real estate title is transferred to the buyer from the seller. During the closing process, all required funds are collected and all necessary paperwork is complete. A Closing Disclosure Form is executed and once signed converts into a legal document. Please be aware that unless you understand and agree to all of the terms in the Closing Disclosure Form, you should not sign it. A misunderstanding of what your signing could evolve into an extensive court battle in the event that changes need to be made.
In previous years, closings were conducted in an attorney’s office or a title agency. Today, a closing can be conducted in any preferred location so long as a notary is available. Florida law provides that either a licensed title agent or an attorney may conduct a real estate closing. Nonetheless, the Florida Department of Financial Services only controls those real estate transactions where either title insurance has been purchased or an escrow fund has been created for the closing by the title agent.
A typical closing for buyers includes the following:
Make certain to check and go over any listed exceptions under Schedule B in the commitment. Once the buyer, seller and lender have received the distributed documents and funds, the deed to the property is recorded in county’s Clerk of Court where the property is located. The title policies are delivered once the recorded documents are returned to the title agency.
Since buying a home is one of life’s largest investments, you will want to be certain it’s safely yours. Most homeowners provide for the security and safekeeping of their homes by insuring them against hazards such as fire, theft, and weather damage.
What is title? Title is the ownership basis of real estate and represents your legal rights in the property’s use, control, possession and dispossession.
However, there is more dangerous exposure which can present a risk to your goal of homeownership. These dangers include such defects in the title to your property which can result in a partial or a complete loss in your investment. Even the most thorough search of the county public records may not reveal certain title defects on the property. A few of the problems that could suddenly surface are forged wills or deeds, title transferred by someone under age, a married person conveying real estate without their spouse, fraudulent impersonations, secret marriages, undisclosed heirs, invalid divorces, and false affidavits. Without the protection of title insurance, your investment is in jeopardy.
Fortunately, there is a way to protect your investment from these defects by purchasing owner’s title insurance.
Prior to the issuance of your title insurance policy, any defects in your title will be checked and reviewed by your title agent. In the event that there are issues with the title such as a lien filed by a contractor who did improvements on the property, unpaid taxes, an easement or any other potential title defects, there may be a risk to the free and clear ownership of the property.
So how can title insurance in Florida help you?
Title insurance offers protection to you and/or your lender from previous claims or prior rights that another party may have to the property, including any unsettled debt of previous property owners. Moreover, title insurance is centered around a public records search, which is estimated to establish the status of the title at the time the property was purchased. On the occasion that your title is challenged by another party, your title insurance underwriter will defend your title and pay any and all related costs and losses in property value that occurs, up to your title insurance policy limit.
The lender and owner policy are the two main types of title insurance in Florida. Some lenders might insist on using their own title insurance as a stipulation of your mortgage loan. The lender’s policy title insurance protects the interest of the lender in the title of your home. While an owner’s policy provides insurance for the owner of the property against certain types of claims which are usually listed in the policy. Additionally, the owner’s policy provides protection to the new owner of the property from a previous owner’s liabilities, such as the requirement of paying a lien that was placed against the property during the ownership of the prior owner.
In Florida, either the buyer and/or the seller are allowed to buy both lender and owner policy’s. Moreover, both title insurance companies and title agents can sell title insurance in Florida along with attorney’s who are in good standing with the Florida Bar.
Similar to other kinds of insurance, a title policy is paid as a one-time premium and stays in effect during the duration that you or any heirs own the property.
In the West Coast of Florida, the home sellers are the parties that get to choose the title company which they want to perform their closing. Although potential home buyers can choose the title agent, title agency and/or attorney that they would like to use for their closing, they will have to pay the sellers closing costs. If your real estate agent suggested a title agent, agency or attorney you have no obligation to use them. Title agents can represent multiple companies or a single one.
The title agent’s part in the purchase of your home is:
In selecting a title agency to work with for your closing, you might talk with people you know that have recently purchased a home and what their experience was like with their title company. Additionally, your real estate agent or mortgage lender title agencies that they have worked with in the past.
Compare several title agencies costs and services. In Florida, the premiums on title insurance are set by the state, see Florida Adminstrative Code, Rule 69O-186.008. Only the title agency or title agent fees can be negotiated.
Select an experienced and licensed title agency with a good reputation. You can check the license status of the agency by visiting the Florida Department of Financial Services. A good title agency will have agents that are professional and will answer any questions about the policy you are purchasing as well as provide a detailed explanation about the requisite fees for your closing.
Abstract of Title is a collection of instruments going to the earliest public records and comprises of all the physical copies of any recorded instruments affecting title of the property being searched. A substitute approach includes a review of the records for 30 years from the date of a valid root of title.
Clear Title refers to title which is free from any defects, encumbering the owner’s right of peaceful enjoyment of the property and/or cause the owner to lose any part of the property.
Cloud on Title refers to a scenario where a possible future claim exists on the title to the property.
The Closing Disclosure, shows the financial numbers associated with the closing. Additionally, as of August 2015, the Closing Disclosure has directly replaced the following forms: (1) the HUD-1, (2) the Good Faith Estimate, and (3) the Truth in Lending Act forms.
Earnest Money is a typical requirement on the buyer used showing their sincerity for entering the contract to purchase property.
Easements refers to a right to use another’s real property for a specific purpose. Although an easement is a real property interest, it does not grant legal title to the property which remains with the original property owner.
Eminent Domain is a constitutional government taking of private property to be used for a public purpose. The taking must be for a public purpose and full compensation is paid to the owner of the property.
Lis Pendens refers to formal written notice that a law suit has been filed concerning real property.
Primary Title Services are recorded on the Closing Disclosure and consists of examining the title search records, freeing any underwriting hurdles, finalizing insurability, preparation and issuance of the title commitment along with the title insurance policy.
Property Encroachment, occurs when one’s property runs onto another person’s property. Some examples of property encroachment include bushes and shrubbery, fencing, decks and sheds.
Related Title Services are generally described as closing services and are recorded on the Closing Disclosure. Closing services consist of preparation of the necessary documents for closing, performing the closing and the disbursement of closing funds.
Restrictive Covenants refers to a promise in an agreement or a contract that restricts, limits and/or regulates the land use in order to preserve any adjoining property.
Simple Escrow refers to a closing where title insurance is not issued.
Title Commitmentrefers to a title insurance binder.
Title Defects are legal issues caused by conflicting and/or adverse interests that get in the way of determining the property’s true owner and the authentication of the title. Title defects result when either ownership or transfer of ownership is not recorded properly.
Title Search refers to the gathering of title information from official records, showing a compiled list of all previous official records affecting title of the property being purchased.
Writ of Interpleader is an official court order which instructs a title company on the disbursement of funds in escrow that are in question.
