To understand why it is important to have title insurance when buying Colleyville real estate, you should first know the chain-of-title, as well as how a title company searches public records. The searches start with when the U.S. government claimed the land (from the U.S. patent) and then advance from that position.

What is Chain of Title?

A chain of title is a complete record of mechanisms that were used to turn over ownership of a piece of property starting from the U.S. Patent up to the latest owner of the record. This breaks if a file becomes missing.

Why Should You Get Title Insurance?

Mistakes are inevitable and humans have a tendency to commit an error. Since humans are involved in plotting land parcels and recording transferring of deeds, many things may go wrong. You should get a title insurance as it provides protection against human error and defects.

Back in the old times, the transferring of properties was recorded in an alphabetical order in separate "Grantee" and "Grantor" books. A "Grantee" is the party that receives the title of a real estate piece, or commonly known as the buyer. If he/she decides to sell the house, he/she becomes the grantor. A "Grantor," commonly referred to as the seller, is the one who conveys the real estate title that he/she possesses to a grantee. Searching the records are much easier nowadays since most of them are now stored on a computer.

What are the Basics of Title Searches?

Title searches start from the latest deed until it reaches the U.S. Patent. The process goes like this: starting with the latest deed, the name of the grantee or the one who holds the title at present is searched backwards in time, until it reaches the deed wherein the grantee received the property is found; after this step, the name of the grantor is searched in reverse time in the grantee's book to locate the time in which the grantor received title as the grantee. This goes on until the searcher locates the U.S. Patent.

What is the Coverage of Title Insurance?

Consumers may pick among various selections regarding title insurance coverage, depending on the company. However, the three most common choices that buyers of Colleyville homes for sale that may pick are the following:

1. Coverage of the Basic Owner's Title Policy

• Clear title to the real estate property

• Wrong signatures on files

• Fraud, forgery

• Faulty recordation

• Provisional contracts

• Judgments or encumbrances

2. Coverage of Basic Lender's Title Policy

• Liens and unrecorded liens of mechanics

• Unrecorded access rights and easements

• Deficiencies and other unrecorded files

3. Extended Owner's Coverage

• Violation of building permits from past owners

• Subdivision maps

• Violation of contract from past owners

• Living trusts

• Damage in the structure from mineral extractions

• Various forgeries and encroachments once the title insurance is issued