The topic of title insurance is surrounded by misconceptions that keep home buyers from recognizing its importance. To help you better understand why you need title insurance, we will debunk some popular myths about how title insurance works and whether you need to purchase a policy.

1. The home is entirely new, so I don’t need it. Even when a home is brand new, the land where the house is built has still been owned by numerous people over the years. The age of the home has nothing to do with potential issues that could arise over ownership of the home. In addition, owning a new home comes with other potential problems. Items such as easements, restrictions, HOA liens, and other things could affect your ownership interest and use of the property.

2. I’m in good shape because there was a title search done at some point. A title search will examine the chain of title, legal description, check for judgments and ensure that the taxes are current on the property. An owner’s title insurance policy protects the buyer against anything that may have missed in the title search protecting one of your most valuable investments.

3. The sellers owned it for many years, and I don’t have anything to worry about. You might assume that there aren’t any issues if a home has been in a family for a long time. The amount of time a home has been owned has no bearing on whether or not it can come with title issues. A home that has been in a family can still come with its share of estate disputes and other title defects. Don’t deceive yourself into believing that long history of ownership guarantees security.

The only way to protect yourself against the unknown is an owner’s title insurance policy.Take your time and do your due diligence to research and invest in an owner’s title insurance policy. You will be grateful that you decided to incur a small initial expense instead of incurring a more considerable expense that could lead to property loss.