Title Insurance Derr, Pursel, Luschas & Norton, LLP offers complete real estate services to its clientele, including Title Insurance. Title Insurance is insurance which covers the quality of the title which one is conveyed by virtue of a deed. This is called "Owners' Coverage." A bank may also have its first lien position guaranteed by a slightly different type of Title Insurance called "Lenders' Coverage." Banks will usually require a Lenders' Coverage Title Insurance policy as a condition to the granting of a mortgage loan, since the bank wants to be sure that, if they must foreclose, the bank's lien is first in line and foreclosure will result in good and marketable deed title to the bank. Of course, Owners' Coverage guarantees an owner that his or her title is good and marketable. Like other insurance policies, all Title Insurance policies have limits and exclusions from coverage. "Limits" are expressed in a dollar amount, and represent the limit to which the Title Insurance Company will pay if there is a claim on the policy. Claims can include such obvious items as someone else holding a deed to your property which has priority over yours, to unseen and unknown easements which encroach on your use of your property. "Exclusions" are exceptions from coverage. Some are standard on all policies, such as the existence of unrecorded leases and unrecorded liens, neither of which can be found by a standard title search. Some may unique to your property, such as specific easements signed off by previous owners of your property and building and use restrictions recorded in the courthouse by the developer of your subdivision. Title Insurance is issued by a Title Insurance Agent who performs a title search in advance of issuing the Title Insurance Policy. The title search for Title Insurance purposes goes back 60 years along your "chain of title" and reports what is found within that time period. A Title Insurance Agent may be an attorney, but may also be an "abstract company" staffed by non-attorney Title Insurance Agents. At Derr, Pursel, Luschas & Norton, LLP, all of our Attorney/Partners are Title Insurance Agents. Title Insurance is paid for by way of a one-time premium which is paid at the Closing. The premium is set and approved by the Pennsylvania Insurance Commission, and it is a highly regulated charge, therefore, Title Insurance premiums are the same for the same amount of Limits from agent to agent, and from company to company, regardless of whether the agent is an Attorney. It is a criminal offense to charge more or less than the approved premium. THEREFORE, IT IS INCORRECT TO STATE THAT AN ATTORNEY/AGENT WILL CHARGE MORE THAN A NON-ATTORNEY/AGENT! At Derr, Pursel, Luschas & Norton, LLP, we will charge the same as, or less than, any other agent or abstract company, for real estate services that may be provided by non-attorney/agents. Since the charges are the same, we at Derr, Pursel, Luschas & Norton, LLP provide the service of an Attorney at no charge. We at Derr, Pursel, Luschas & Norton, LLP have been doing title searches, issuing Title Insurance and setting up Closings for almost 50 years. No staff is more experienced, precise and prompt than ours in searching, setting up and conducting Closings. Call us for any and all of your real estate and Title Insurance needs. Disclaimer: Material contained in the Derr, Pursel, Luschas & Norton, LLP web site is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice, contractual promises or solicitation of legal services. Transmission of information from this site is not intended to create, and its receipt does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship between Derr, Pursel, Luschas & Norton, LLP and the reader.