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Working Title (Insurance)

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11–20 of 99 posts

Re: Working Title (Insurance)

#11
> The rest is a mix of government fee passthroughs and Obvious Nonsense, such as a $125 “water processing fee,” $55 for a wire transfer where that number is just made up, etc. But if I were to go through each of the 16 line items summing up to $1,400, we’d be here all day.

1400 EUR here in notary and government racket to change the number of shares in the company. Two paragraphs containing ultra basic math wrapped in legalese.

These 16 lines seems like they got a lot for $1400 compared to me. There's still way to go: the government rackets better and if they want to really sucker money in, they have to learn from the best!

Re: Working Title (Insurance)

#13

My real introduction to Title Insurance came not when I purchased my first house, but as I sold it. The buyer was an experienced builder who was buying the house (in a fairly desirable area of the city where property was appreciating quickly) in order to add upgrades and flip it. When his agent asked why he had crossed out the line for title insurance, he retorted, "that property's been sold three times in 10 years.…

He also was probably not financing the purchase with a mortgage.

Re: Working Title (Insurance)

#14

My real introduction to Title Insurance came not when I purchased my first house, but as I sold it. The buyer was an experienced builder who was buying the house (in a fairly desirable area of the city where property was appreciating quickly) in order to add upgrades and flip it. When his agent asked why he had crossed out the line for title insurance, he retorted, "that property's been sold three times in 10 years.…

If you are knowledgeable enough about the risk that’s great. For an average person buying a house things can and do go sideways:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/ho...

Re: Working Title (Insurance)

#15
I recently performed a title search on a property going back to the 1820’s - the land was issued to the original owner by James Monroe and the buck stopped there.

An acquaintance performed a title search on another property going back to the 1100’s. They found a serious black and white error circa 1225 which voided the entire chain of claim. They did not report the error.

Re: Working Title (Insurance)

#16

I recently performed a title search on a property going back to the 1820’s - the land was issued to the original owner by James Monroe and the buck stopped there. An acquaintance performed a title search on another property going back to the 1100’s. They found a serious black and white error circa 1225 which voided the entire chain of claim. They did not report the error.

The US has squatting laws, if you are living (uncontested) in a property for a determined period you can claim title.

There are always gaps in emerging economies and this rule is one of the more useful ones to onboard assets into the legal system.

cfr. De Soto - Mystery of Capital

Re: Working Title (Insurance)

#17
post #16

I recently performed a title search on a property going back to the 1820’s - the land was issued to the original owner by James Monroe and the buck stopped there. An acquaintance performed a title search on another property going back to the 1100’s. They found a serious black and white error circa 1225 which voided the entire chain of claim. They did not report the error.

The US has squatting laws, if you are living (uncontested) in a property for a determined period you can claim title. There are always gaps in emerging economies and this rule is one of the more useful ones to onboard assets into the legal system. cfr. De Soto - Mystery of Capital

Every state has their own laws. Interestingly some states advantage squatting with a colorable claim of title. For example if your uncle John leaves you real property in his will that he doesn’t have title to and you notoriously occupy and use that property for seven years you can apply for a clean title. Without that colorable claim you might need twenty years or more.

Re: Working Title (Insurance)

#18
post #16

I recently performed a title search on a property going back to the 1820’s - the land was issued to the original owner by James Monroe and the buck stopped there. An acquaintance performed a title search on another property going back to the 1100’s. They found a serious black and white error circa 1225 which voided the entire chain of claim. They did not report the error.

The US has squatting laws, if you are living (uncontested) in a property for a determined period you can claim title. There are always gaps in emerging economies and this rule is one of the more useful ones to onboard assets into the legal system. cfr. De Soto - Mystery of Capital

[deleted]

Re: Working Title (Insurance)

#19
post #10
post #2

A surprising law foundation in the US is that if you live somewhere long enough as if you were the owner, then it becomes yours. Sometimes known as "squatters rights". This feels a bit unfair at first. However, this "if you think you own it, you probably do own it" has turned out fairly well. At least in most places in the US, unlike England, you don't have to trace all property transfers back to Norman Conquest in 1…

No, England has a new system, as of 2002. Property ownership records have been centralized, under "HM Land Registry", which has more authority than it used to have. Those records are now treated as definitive. If a fraudster can get a record changed in HM Land Registry, they own the property . The fraudster can only be sued for damages.[1] The fraudster has probably sold the property to an innocent party. That innoce…

That article only gives an example of someone who recovered their property after it was fraudulently transferred.

Re: Working Title (Insurance)

#20

My real introduction to Title Insurance came not when I purchased my first house, but as I sold it. The buyer was an experienced builder who was buying the house (in a fairly desirable area of the city where property was appreciating quickly) in order to add upgrades and flip it. When his agent asked why he had crossed out the line for title insurance, he retorted, "that property's been sold three times in 10 years.…

The question is also who will be left holding the bag. If title searches over the past 10 years have turned up nothing problematic, then likely when the flipper sells, their buyer's title search won't turn up anything either.

And once their eventual buyer buys the house, it's their problem (not the flipper's) -- well, their title insurer's problem -- if a title dispute comes up later.

And given that the flipper's goal is to hold the house for a relatively short time and make a profit on the improvements, a thousand or few saved on the title insurance could actually be a material amount of that profit.

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