Are supposed to:

1. Sell a title insurance policy that promises to pay damages if the house is sold with unpaid debts or if the ownership of the property ever falls into questoin (like if Indians show up with a 150 year old contract that they claim was null and void, and think they can prove it). Like box says, less than 1% chance, but very valuable if it ever happens to you. It turns out that you, the seller, sign a document guaranteeing to pay any "unknown" liens against the property, if the lien was claimed to be during the period you owned the home. So, unless it's one of those 100 year old things, or the seller disappears off the map, I don't think title insurance buys you much, for the $1000 it costs.

2. Of course, if you sell a title policy like this, then you want to research the property to at least get all the claims against the property for the current century (and maybe the 1900s, too). For this, you charge a fee.

3. Finally, Title Company is supposed to be the "unbiased" settlement house for all parties involved in the transactions. They pay the old lender, get funds from the new lender, pay the real estate agents, etc. This is the role of the Title Company I'm most upset about. In the last two real estate transactions I have done ( buying a new home, refinancing a home ), the LENDER has basically decided the Title Company choice. In both transactions, it is clear that the Title Company didn't give a damn about us, and clearly was biased toward the interests of the lender. In the last re-fi attempt in April, the Title Company never DEMANDED that the lender fund the loan, even though the loan had closed weeks before. Finally, after about 4 weeks of hand wringing, the lender declared the loan "dead", and offered us a new loan, at a lower rate, with some funds refunded. We took it. But, the Title Company clearly subrogated their responsibility as the "clearing house" for the loan, to the interests of the lender.

You close at the Title Company, the title company is supposed to be an "unbiased agent", providing the title policy and disbursing funds to the correct parties.

What really happens is that the Title Companies and banks are really "tight", and the bank or builder's bank usually choses the Title Company.

My title policy for re-fi on $134K was $1134. I was supposed to get a 20% discount from that because the original was 5 years old, but the lender told me that if the title company reduced the policy by 20%, then they would add that cost back into my re-fi fees. Jerks.

I hate lenders. That's why my new pledge is to attempt to be debt free (except mortgage) by 2004, and maybe completely debt free including mortgage by maybe 2010 or 2011?

Glen Austin