When buying a Naples home, there are many fees that show up on the closing statement that may not be fully understood by the buyer.

Title insurance is one of those fees.

Let me assure you, title insurance is one of your most valuable assets in the purchase of a Naples home.

I speak from experience. Several years ago, my husband and I purchased some vacant land. It was our first Florida real estate investment outside of our primary home. Everything went smoothly during the transaction and we were excited to be landowners.

Roughly a year later, my husband goes into public records to determine the lot lines of our parcel; he was thinking of clearing the land or at least mowing it. Come to find out, the land was not  in our name.

We immediately contacted the title company who had handled our closing. Our closing agent reported that the closing documents had never been sent to the county, so in the eyes of the county we did not own the property! All during this 12-month period, we were paying a mortgage on a property we did not own!

As it turned out, that wasn’t the worst of it. When the title company overnighted the documents to the county, the original owner of the land said they didn’t want to sell it. Now we were in a dispute!

In the end, our title insurance policy protected us from paying any fees and we were able to get out of the deal plus pay off the mortgage and received compensation from the title company for our trouble.

An Owner’s Policy of title insurance ensures that the title of the property you are purchasing is free and clear of liens or encumbrances, such as unpaid mortgages, property taxes or child support liens. Additionally, title professionals will look for anything that limits the use of a property, such as utility easements. When a title professional finds an issue, they will work to resolve it, usually without you even knowing it.

The fee you are paying at closing covers the cost of that title professional to discover, identify and repair problems caused by title issues that occurred in the past.

And Owner’s Policy protects you for as long as you or your heirs own the property.

Buyers of Naples real estate should know that title insurance rates are regulated by state insurance departments and who pays for title insurance in a home purchase varies by state and by region. In Collier County, it is customary for the buyer to pay for title insurance.

Want to talk Naples real estate? Call, email or text me.
_________________________________________________________________

Alysia Shivers Realtor | Naples Florida Real Estate | 239.877.9732
https://aroundtownwithalysia.com | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Pinterest

_________________________________________________________________