The Title Insurance ... Behemoth: Consumers Continue to Overpay for Title Insurance

$16 billion.

When you are confronted with this huge amount of money, what comes to mind? If you think that $16 billion is the amount the Hollywood grosses on major motion pictures each year ... you are incorrect. The reality is that Hollywood flicks are expected to gross about half this amount in the coming year.

The reality is that $16 billion represents the amount of money that consumers in the United States spend on title insurance on an annual basis. The amount people are spending on title insurance actually is expected to climb into the future despite what most experts perceive as a housing slump in many markets that is driving the values of some real estate downward.

The fact is that the cost of title insurance is an expensive item when it comes to the other fees associated with a real estate closing. Of course, the cost of a title insurance premium is connected directly both to the particular real estate market and the value or purchase price of the residence in question. In many locations, it is not beyond imagination for a consumer to pay a couple thousand dollars for a home that is valued in the market's median.

The vast majority of consumers involved in the buying, selling or refinancing of residential real estate (and other types of real estate for that matter) simply do not question the costs associated with title insurance premiums. There is something akin to perhaps what might be called a sheep or even a lemming mentality when it comes to title insurance premiums.

Consumers simply are falling in line with what has always been done when it comes to title insurance and title insurance premiums: they are accepting what is handed to them when it comes to title insurance premiums and fees.

The fact is that in many markets and in many transactions (in the majority of markets and in the majority of transactions), title insurance companies have formed what might best be considered strategic alliances with real estate agents, real estate brokers, mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers and so forth. In short, these relationships prove profitable to these industry professionals who will simply provide a consumer with the name of one title insurance company from which the consumer usually will obtain a policy without question.

What has been an endemic status quo does not have to be maintained in this day and age. It is now very easy for consumers to obtain competitive title insurance quotes through an online resource like http://freetitlequote.com/. Within a matter of a few minutes, a consumer can obtain a number of competitive quotes for title insurance. Thanks to this resource, a consumer can cut the costs associated with a title insurance policy and can obtain precisely the coverage that is necessary for his or her circumstances.