Great post. I’m impressed. I don’t think I have ever met a real estate agent here in Pennsylvania who routinely reviews title insurance commitments. In fact, I would guess most PA real estate agents have never read one. I’ll take that one step further and say that most PA title insurance agents don’t even mail a copy to the buyer for review before closing.
The other important point in your story is the visual notice of the easement on the survey. In PA, we don’t have survey standards and so even if the buyer decides to purchase a survey – which is rare – there's a high probability that easements won’t be drawn on the map.
Any consumer reading this post should take heed. Shop for a real estate agent like Kris or Steve Berg who is capable and cares enough to watch your back. Shop for a title insurance agent like The Closing Specialists® who will make the title insurance commitment available for review and approval prior to closing. Shop for a surveyor who will show all easements and restrictions so you have full knowledge of what you are buying and understand realities that may affect your use and enjoyment of the property.
2 comments:
Not to discount the acts of Kris & Steve, but it is one of the responsibilities of California real estate agents to review the preliminary title report. To not do so could be grounds for potential liability in the future. Also, not all maps have the easements automatically plotted so it is wise if one sees "easement-type exceptions" in Schedule B, to request the Title Officer to map-out these easements accordingly.
In California, the buyer is always provided a copy of the preliminary title report. Unless indicated to the contrary, the buyer typically has 17 days to approve the nature of its contents.
Thanks, Angela. The differences in state customs and practices is very interesting. I'm glad you chimed in.
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