In a completely new approach to the way title insurance is delivered, a Pennsylvania title company began offering its services directly to homeowners earlier this year. Charles Marino, President and CEO of Pennsylvania Title Insurance Company, made a decision to take his business out of the confines of the financial institutions, lenders, mortgage companies, and banks and begin seeking the end user to provide them the opportunity to choose their title company for themselves. Traditionally, title insurance is not decided upon by the borrower.
Title insurance is protection against loss that could arise from discrepancies and problems pertaining to the title to your property. Before you purchased your home, the property on which it stands most likely went through several ownership changes. This means that there have been several opportunities for someone to possibly forge a signature or have unpaid real estate taxes or liens. Title insurance will cover you for any legal fees and claims that may arise out of such situations. If you need a mortgage, title insurance is required, and it will protect you up to the amount of the mortgage.
The Pennsylvania title company helps explain some further benefits of a title insurance policy, stating that such policies end on the date of purchase, and extend backwards indefinitely. In other words, the policy protects you against claims that may arise from past discrepancies. Once you obtain the policy, you are protected indefinitely for the policy period. Although the title insurance company will do extensive research back in time to insure that no discrepancies exist with your title, the fact that the land has been bought and sold so many times over history and the fact that even a small problem could cause great complications attest to the policy's value and benefits.
Marino points out that in our information-rich age, consumers are making a lot of buying decisions themselves. Men are showing up in jewelry stores to purchase engagement rings with a basic knowledge of gemology; homeowners are calling appliance repairmen while browsing wiring diagrams and parts books online. Having seen the Pennsylvania title company evolve over recent decades, Marino has the company poised to offer its knowledge and services to an information-hungry client base.