Financing Title

 

Jim Grimes
Vice President
Office: 215.925.9222
Fax: 215.925.9333
Email: jgrimes@libertyab.com

Liberty Abstract of Delaware Valley, LLC is a full service title company insuring properties in the States of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Weprovide title insurance, and related services for land, residential and commercial acquisitions. Our staff prides itself on the product we provide our buyers. Our staff comes to you for settlement and is always prepared to make your experience a happy one. Our employees have had over30 years of experience and expertise to insure that our buyers are protected. We are always happy to explain that title insurance coverage's provided by the basic title insurance policy and to explain the additional coverage's provided by our enhanced title policy. We can tell you which policy is right for you and WHY!

 

Title Insurance is an insurance policy that insures the past. It insures that the person/entity selling you a property is the rightful owner and that all mortgages, judgments and assessments against that owner and/or that property are properly disclosed and disposed of prior to your money being sent for that property.

 

At the time of the signing of the Agreement of Sale, the buyer has the choice to determine which company that they would like to insure their purchase. After that choice, the property search is ordered and the process begins. The subject property is searched in the County seat where the property is located. In Philadelphia, that would be City Hall; in Montgomery County, PA that would be in Norristown. The searcher accesses the records for that property for at least the last 60 years. All Deeds, Mortgages, Assignments of Mortgages, etc are assembled with related documents such as tax records, water/sewer records, etc and that information, the title brief, is forwarded to the title examiner.

 

The title examiner reviews the brief and indicates those items that are important to the transaction about to be insured. Those items are then assembled and a title commitment is issued. This title commitment acts as a manual of how the settlement should transpire; that is, those items that must be addressed and information obtained so that at the time of settlement, those conditions or requirements can be cleared. The smoothness of the settlement depends on close interaction with the buyers and seller's real estate agents and their attorneys, lenders and various other municipal providers. Prior to settlement, you should be aware of the title company's expectations of you and for you; and as required by RESPA, you are entitled to a completed HUD 1 Settlement Sheet 24 hours prior to settlement.

 

At the time of settlement, you will be confident and prepared if your title company has received all of this cooperation from all of the interested parties. Title companies, as well as the title agent, are licensed through the state where they operate and write insurance. All title companies have national underwriters to insure that they are operating effectively for their clients. In addition, each state provides guidelines for title company operations and all fees for title services are standardized and regulated by the Department of Insurance in each state where the title company operates.

 

50 examples of why home buyers need title insurance:

• Documents executed under false, revoked or expired powers of attorney.
  
• False impersonation of the true landowner.
  
• Undisclosed heirs
  
• Improperly recorded legal documents.
  
• Prescriptive rights in another not appearing of record and not disclosed by survey.
  
• Failure to include necessary parties to certain judicial proceedings
  
• Defective acknowledgements due to improper or expired notarization.
  
• Corporate franchise taxes as liens on corporate real estate assets.
  
• Gaps in the chain of title.
  
• Mistakes and omissions resulting in improper abstracting.
  
• Forged deeds, mortgages, wills, releases of mortgages and other instruments.
  
• Deeds by minors.
  
• Deeds which appear absolute, but which are held to be equitable mortgages.
  
• Conveyances by an heir, devisee or survivor of a joint estate who attempts to attain title by ill-gotten means.
  
• Inadequate legal descriptions.
  
• Conveyances by undisclosed divorced spouses.
  
• Duress in execution of wills, deeds and instruments conveying or establishing title.
  
• Issues involving delivery of conveyancing instruments.
  
• Deeds and wills by persons lacking legal capacity.
  
• State inheritance and gift tax liens.
  
• Errors in tax records.
  
• Demolition and substandard building liens.
  
• Administration of estates and probate of wills of missing persons who are presumed deceased.
  
• Issues of rightful possession of the land.
  
• Issues concerning the rightful conveyances by corporate entities.
  
• Deeds and mortgages by foreigners who may lack legal capacity to hold title.
  
• Legal capacity of foreign personal representatives and trustees.
  
• Issues involving improper martial status.
  
• Improper modification of documents.
  
• Rights of divorced parties.
  
• Conveyances in violation of public policy.
  
• Misinterpretation of wills and ancillary instruments.
  
• Deeds by persons falsely representing their marital status.
  
• Claims by creditors of decedent against property improperly conveyed by heirs and devisees.
  
• Issues concerning unlawful takings by eminent domain or condemnation.
  
• Special tax assessments.
  
• Real estate homestead exceptions.
  
• Forfeitures of real property due to criminal acts.
  
• Issues concerning adoption of children.
  
• Conveyances and proceedings affecting rights of military personnel protected by the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act.
  
• Issues concerning interests noted in financial statements filed under Uniform Commercial Code.
  
• Interests arising by deeds of fictitious parties.
  
• Adverse possession.
  
• Lack of jurisdiction or competency of persons in judicial proceedings.
  
• Community property issues.
  
• Utility easements.
  
• False affidavits of death of heirship.
  
• Interstate estates.
  
• Probate matters.
  
• Federal estate and gift tax liens.