Sellers Proof of Ownership

How does one prove that the person actually owns the property? There are two documents that will help establish ownership. One is called an abstract, which is simply a written history of the property. It traces all of the deeds and mortgages throughout the years. A second way to prove a property is really yours is through title insurance, which is where a company insures your title. Most buyers across the country today will get a title insurance policy, and most buyers just obtain what's called a standard policy, which will cover you against things like forged documents, recorded liens, those types of items. So, if there are any issues down the road, and if you were to lose the title, for example, the title insurance company would pay you off on that particular claim. When a title company insures your property, checking again to make sure there are no problems, they will always have what is called a schedule of exceptions, which are things not covered in the title insurance policy.

One of the items typically included in a schedule of exceptions would be zoning. When a buyer purchases a property, the buyer needs to check out the zoning for himself or herself. Title insurance does not cover you against those types of items. Most title insurance companies offer extended coverage policies that may include zoning issues but a purchaser will pay an additional premium for that extended coverage. Finally, with title insurance, if a title company ever has to pay off on a claim, the title company would like to go ahead and recover their money, if at all possible. Hence, we have the term subrogation. Subrogation is when a title company will go ahead and pay off a claim to a buyer, for example, who bought their property, and then their buyer will give whatever rights the buyer had in that property, back over to the title company. So, the title company can sue someone else and try to recover their money.