We’re back for another edition of Title Terms – because we know this isn’t your area of expertise, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know what’s going into your home purchase.
Title Terms: Chain of Title
The Chain of Title is an important part of what we as the Title Insurance company does for the real estate transaction. It allows us to be detectives and trace the real estate genealogy back through it’s ownership. Building a thorough chain of title not only gives the potential homeowner the history of the property that they’re purchasing, but it also gives us the information we need as the Title Insurance company to insure the property against potential claims against ownership or liens against the property. The chain runs from the current owners back through the original owner of the property.
Pretty cool, right? We think so too. Our job is really kind of amazing.
In order create the abstract (that’s our title term for the available data on the property), there’s a lot of research that happens. There are quite a few steps involved, but we’ve been doing this a long time, and we’ve got the best experts in the business.
What is a broken link in the Chain of Title?
Good question. As explained above, the Chain of Title traces the ownership back to the original owner of the property. If there is a ‘broken chain’ in that ownership, it could happen for a variety of reasons – but to cut to the heart of the matter, it means there’s an illegal deed for one reason or another.
That’s why Title Insurance is important- and why using a reputable company with a solid foundation is even more important. Buying real estate can be an overwhelming undertaking – we’re here to provide peace of mind through that process.