Do We Need Homeowner's Title Insurance?
Bluebell66
8 years ago
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Linda Doherty
8 years agorrah
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Title insurance and survey needed in buying house?
Comments (12)Land that was once owned by the church, and was developed in 1985 - that is a pretty safe bet that there are no issues with the lots. The church is not going to sell the developer land they do not own, and the developer is not going to buy any land that had an issue. I would say title insurance is not needed. Same goes with the property survey. Most of the time with townhouses, the lot lines are not very hard to figure out. To me, a title lawyer who is in the business of recommending title insurance and boundary surveys is similar to a car dealer who sells rust-proofing and extended warranties. Sure, the lawyer is not going to be getting the insurance premium, or the fees associated with the boundary survey, but if he successfully recommends someone to you, I wouldn't doubt that he gets a kickback for that. I work for a land surveying company, and we had a client who had lived on a property for a long time. This parcel of land used to be part of a 400 acre farm dating back to the late 1700's, and over the years, the lot got chopped up into much smaller lots. So the neighboring lot sold, and the buyer had a boundary survey done. Upon doing the deed research, it was determined that a survey done in the 1930's was in error, and they held the wrong property corner. This meant that our client's paved driveway was on the new buyer's property. The new guy could have been nice about it, and just sold our client an access easement, but he didn't legally have to, so he didn't. Our client had to pay to rip up the old driveway that was encroaching, put sod down in that area, and relocate his driveway. This required removal of a lot of trees, and a lot of additional grading. I don't know what his total bill was, but I would estimate it was at least $20k. Our client actually had title insurance, so he wasn't worried - until he actually contacted the insurance company. They told him that this issue wasn't present when he purchased the house, that they were not responsible, and it was his problem. So this guy paid for title insurance, which should have protected him, and it didn't. All the guys in my office said that title insurance is a joke - not worth the paper it is written on....See MoreHomeowner's insurance (larger) claim question--restoration
Comments (14)Well, this has definitely been a learning experience for us! We've not been happy with the level of responsiveness from our insurance company although it supposedly is ranked as one of the top companies in the country. In many ways they have screwed up from the get go. So, we've been feeling that we are definitely on our own on this one. After more than a month of hassling this, we are starting to think that perhaps we should have just hired a GC. But, at the start we didn't realize that the scope of the necessary repairs would keep expanding into the realm where a GC might be necessary. Our adjuster just told us to find some companies to bid on the heating and plumbing work (all that we initially thought was involved). As we get further into this, we are realizing all of the additional things that will need to be worked on. I guess we are lucky in that we have the funds in hand to pay for some of the initial expenses such as temporary lodging and initial diagnostic work on the house. A number of times we've talked about how in the world people who don't have the extra money would be able to handle making these payments and then waiting for reimbursement. Our insurance company didn't even step up and offer any assistance with finding temporary lodging until more than two weeks into this. And, then, they didn't have any better options than I'd managed to find after hours and hours of searching on my own. I think some of the issues we are having are due to our wanting to do things our own way to make sure they are done correctly and in a manner suitable to a 100 year old house. The insurance company has four approved contractors in our city, and if we had chosen to work through them all of the money would have gone directly to them through the insurance agency without us having to be involved at all. But, we started looking into reviews of those companies, and they weren't great. So, we opted out of using those approved contractors. We are ending up acting as our own GC, but it is a lot of work! We are lucky we have the time to do this. Yes, we have just considered paying off the rest of the mortgage and could do that. But, we live in a pretty pricey house and that is a good chunk of money that we might want to have available elsewhere in this entire process. So, we are sitting on that idea for a bit. And, when asking about pocketing some of the money by doing work on my own, my intent is not to defraud or raise rates. I just want to know why I could not do the painting myself since I am as capable as the professional that I know the insurance company will be paying a pretty penny to do the same work. So, are some of you suggesting that we just hire a GC, have the GC make a bid for the entire project, and then make our own arrangements with the GC on how we could save some of the total sum by doing the work ourselves? Thanks for all of the advice and personal experiences....See MoreHomeowners Insurance: How much Dwelling Coverage do I really need?
Comments (16)Thanks for all of the very helpful replies. You've given me much to consider. I'm quickly learning that in shopping around, you aren't necessarily comparing apples to apples, and you really have to know what level of insurance you desire and you need to know what all of the "add-ons" that they often package together actually are. I find this all incredibly dull and tedious, but also recognize that it is of the utmost importance. We have been with Farmers for many years, working with the same agent (not broker; I see pros and cons of using a broker). I'm old-school enough to place value on the relationship that has been established with this agent's office. It's just really nice to be able to call his office and have his long-time assistant know exactly who I am (and I know her). After looking at a few other quotes, it appears that we will likely just stay where we are. We have excellent coverage with a company we trust, so while the premiums have risen, I do understand that there are outlying factors that are not within our control affecting these costs. We will still discuss possible ways of lowering our premium with our agent, but I have a feeling it will just mean taking away certain coverages, and I know we won't want to go there....See MoreDoes anyone really understand homeowners’ insurance?
Comments (49)And just in case someone want to know how this is done for example... here: Damage in the family room .. wet half wall, connecting soffit , ceiling, exterior wall, and the water leaked into a fireplace and on other room side another part of ceiling, tornado damaged door, baseboards: The adjuster pays: R13 in the attic instead of R38, pays for a bogus 2" paint grade baseboards $1.40lf, exterior wall drywall, install carpet - lowest grade, OSB 4'x4'; re-nail interior door (as exterior door fix) What the adjuster did not pay: R38 insulation, 20'x14' ceilings, 3"-1/4 baseboards clear maple stain grade - $3.50/lf, stain the baseboards, new trim around the window and staining, the insulation behind the wet exterior drywall, paint the drywall [what bag pays for unpainted walls], remove/install/replace drapes next to the windows, half wall + soffit drywall and paint, repairs to the flooded fireplace, the carper removal [not just install], 20'x14' subfloors, and remove and replace exterior door + paint the exterior door + trim. Is that 20 cents on the dollar or 10 cents on the dollar? Best insurance - LibertyMutual....See MoreSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
8 years agonosoccermom
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8 years agoSaltiDawg
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8 years agorrah
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoBluebell66
8 years agobob_cville
8 years agoSaltiDawg
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agobry911
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoSaltiDawg
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoBluebell66
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8 years ago
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