What Is a Title Company & What Do They Do?
Fri Mar 29, 2019 on Blog
Video: What Is A Title Company?
FAQ’s With Roy Oppenheim
Full Transcript: A lot of times people ask me, what is a title company? And since I’ve been practicing law for over 30 years, and I’ve had my own title company for over 25 years, I’m probably a good person to give you an answer. I also do provide expert testimony to some of the largest title underwriters in the United States.
What Is a Title Company & What Do They Do?
And so, let me tell you what a title company is. First of all, you have what’s called a title agency. And the title agency actually is an agency for the title underwriter. The title underwriter is usually a multi-billion dollar company, usually a publicly traded company, whether it’s Fidelity or First American. And then you have these agents. And the agents are actually the ones who conduct the closings. The closings are where the buyer is protected, in that, when the buyer is buying a piece of property, they want to know that they’re getting good title.
Who Title Companies Serve
Residential Transaction
Whether it’s a residential transaction, whether it’s your first transaction, or if you’re a flipper, or if it’s a commercial transaction, you want to know that you’re getting good title. The title company is going to make sure that the title’s checked, the title’s clean, and that you’re getting good title. On top of it, the title company, which is a title agency, is going to make sure that if something goes wrong that you’re protected. And so you’re buying title insurance, and title insurance is issued by the agent, by the title agent, but it’s actually being issued by the underwriter, the big public company that’s worth billions of dollars.
Title Agent Is Really Not Your Agent
The title agent is really not your agent. They’re really an agent of the underwriter. Most people don’t know that, but that’s who they are. That’s why they’re called title agents. Once a transaction occurs, you will get a title policy. That title policy may have a few exceptions, and those exceptions are exceptions that you’re willing to take as a buyer, such as a mortgage. If you decide to get a mortgage, obviously, your title will be…have an exception for the mortgage.
But if it has some sort of lien that you were unaware of, a tax lien from the prior owner, or if it has an easement that you were unaware of that isn’t in the title policy, you would be protected from that. Or if there’s an encroachment, that there’s someone’s tree is on your property that isn’t your tree, or if there’s a fence that goes over onto your fence line, those are the kinds of things that title insurance protects so it gets fixed.
If in fact you were involved with a fraudulent transaction, and the person who said was your seller wasn’t your seller, and the title company got defrauded by having someone impersonate someone, and you actually didn’t buy the property from someone who you thought you bought it from, that’s why you have title insurance. And that title insurance is backed by the title underwriter. And they will either litigate, sue, figure out how to correct the problem, or they will write you a check.
On the flip side, if you are selling real estate, the title company is the party to make sure that when you do convey good title, and that you do sign over the deed, that you end up with the money in your bank for that property after the mortgage is paid off, and to make sure that the funds are wired properly to your account, or in some cases, a cashier’s check is issued to you. So that’s what a title company does.
Escrow Services Of Title Companies
And that’s why you need to have the title company involved with any real estate transaction that you have.
__________________________________________________________
Weston Title & Escrow | Attorney Owned And Operated Title Company
2500 Weston Rd #209
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33331
954-384-6168
__________________________________________________________
Weston Title & Escrow is a trusted South Florida title company, serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties as well as the entire State of Florida since 1994.
Owned and operated by attorneys Roy Oppenheim and Ellen Pilelsky, the founding partners of Oppenheim Law, Weston Title provides highly personalized services in the areas of real estate closings, title insurance, title searches and escrow services.