Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Title Insurance: What Your Real Estate Broker May Not Tell You ...

If you are on the market for a new home for yourself and your family, you may have elected to engage the services of a real estate broker. Indeed, on many levels, making use of the services of a real estate broker is solid plan of action.

In the end, a qualified real estate broker can provide you with a wide range of assistance and services. A real estate broker can make the whole process of finding the home of your dreams far, far easier. This particularly is the case when you are dealing with a volatile real estate market such as exists today.

However, you need to keep well in mind that there are some limitations as to what you tasks you should rely on your real estate broker to assist you with, to complete. The reality is that no matter how qualified, experienced and helpful your real estate broker may seem to be on so many levels, there is at least one aspect of a real estate transaction concerning which you must not solely rely upon your real estate broker for advice and assistance.

When it comes to finding a title insurance, you simply cannot follow the lead of your real estate broker without first undertaken an independent course of investigation, research and education. While it is not the intent of this post to paint real estate brokers as dishonest when it comes to title insurance, it is hardly uncommon for the typical real estate broker (or agent for that matter) to fail to fully disclose to a consumer the connections he or she may have with a particular title insurance company or title insurance agent.

In this day and age, title insurance companies and title insurance agencies take great pains to cultivate close relationships with real estate agents and real estate brokers. While the code of conduct or professional responsibility for real estate brokers and agents does limit what they can and cannot accept in the way of gifts and renumeration in some instances, the door is fairly wide open as to what title insurance companies and agencies can to today to cultivate the favor of and referrals from these types of real estate professionals. The reality is that in some jurisdictions real estate professionals actually can receive some sort of direct benefit each and every time they refer a consumer to a particular title insurance company or agency.

In the vast majority of cases, home buyers simply do not bother to question a recommendation from a real estate professional about a particular title insurance company. While it is regrettable to have to make such a strong statement, in many instances when it comes to title insurance consumers are led around by their noses by real estate professionals. These home buyers simply do whatever the real estate professional tells them to do.

In the end, this may not be a wise course not in the best interest of a consumer simply because in many cases the real estate professional will have a vested interest in making a referral to a particular title insurance company even if that company does not have the best policy and premium options for the home buyer.

If you desire more information about your title insurance options, and if you want to obtain a reliable title insurance quote, you will want to spend some time at http://freetitlequote.com/.

No comments: