Finding your title insurance policy should be one of your steps in preparing your home for sale.
Chances are good that if you bought your home in the last twenty years or so you bought an owner’s title insurance policy. Locate it before you list your home for sale so you are ready if you need it.
Most of the time you won’t need it, but sometimes a surprise comes up during the title search that will prevent you from closing unless you have title insurance or another way to clear the title.
The most common issue is an unsatisfied mortgage. If it is an old mortgage of your own which you have paid in full or from before you refinanced you may have the satisfaction which shows it was paid and can easily clear it. But sometimes it can be a mortgage from a previous owner… or you may no longer have the mortgage satisfaction. Then you have a problem.
In a recent sale an old mortgage from a previous owner showed up as unsatisfied when they did the title search. The seller remembered she purchased title insurance when she bought the property, which usually means we can contact the title insurance company for a copy of the policy. But in this case the title insurance company had gone out of business so there was no one to contact.
Thankfully we were able to locate her title insurance policy by digging through her old records… crisis averted.
If you are planning to sell, locate your title insurance policy so you are prepared if any issues come up. If you don’t have title insurance and have refinanced or paid off your mortgage, locate your mortgage satisfaction.
As always, contact us or your Realtor with any questions.
RE/MAX Results HomesMSP Team – info@homesmsp.com – 612-419-0560
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