Buyers & Borrowers

Fire insurance protects you against losses from fire. Collision insurance guards you against the cost of a damaged car. Theft insurance - well, you get the idea.

Title insurance protects your title to real estate that you are about to acquire.
To understand why title protection is essential, we need to consider real estate for a moment.

Your Ownership of Real Estate
Real estate has always been considered a person's most valuable possession. It is so basic a form of wealth that many special laws have been enacted to protect the ownership of land and the buildings thereon.

You should realize whenever you buy property that the owner who is selling it to you has extremely strong rights as do his family and heirs. Also, there may be others - in addition to the owner - who have "rights" in the property you are going to buy, perhaps governmental bodies, or contractors, for example. Some of the things a title search uncovers are any unpaid taxes or mortgages, judgements against previous owners, easements, and many other court actions or recorded documents which can affect title to real estate.

We find and report such defects in the title to the real estate you wish to buy, so that these matters can be corrected and cleared up. Title insurance is a risk elimination product, not a risk assumption product.

Protecting You Against Hidden Risks
Protection against loss from claims on real estate which cannot be discovered by examination of the public records is the second part of the twofold benefit which Cornerstone Title provides. For example, the title to the home which you have paid for - and to which you have received a deed - could be threatened or lost by such circumstances as a forgery, confusion due to similar names, or error in the records. These contingencies will be covered in your policy of title insurance.

Summarizing, Title Insurance Means This to You:
It is an assurance that every possible cloud on the title to the land you are buying - which can be discovered from the public records - has been called to you attention so that such defects can be corrected before you buy. And - it is insurance that, if any undisclosed claim covered by your policy arises out of the past to threaten your ownership of real estate, it will be disposed of, or you will be reimbursed, exactly as your title insurance policy provides.

And You Pay Only Once
Unlike other forms of insurance, the owner's policy and premium is paid at closing, not an annual fee each year. There are no annual payments to keep your Owners Title Insurance Policy in force.