Frequently Asked
Questions

The title insurance industry has protected the property rights of homeownership for more than 125 years. There are two different types of title insurance policies:

• An owner’s policy is typically purchased by the home seller. Purchasing an owner’s title insurance policy is the best way to protect your property rights, as well as your trustees, inheritors, and beneficiaries.
•  A lender’s policy is usually paid for by the homebuyer but can be the seller. It is almost always required by the lender and protects only the lender’s interest.
  

Click here to view our Featured Article on what title insurance is, how it works, and why you need it.

When you pay off a deed of trust (which is what most people think of as a mortgage), there is a statute that requires the lender to record a release of deed of trust so that it no longer affects the property that you are selling or refinancing. However, sometimes this takes a few months, and on occassion, the lender simply does not process the release paperwork. If we find a deed of trust recorded against your property even though the loan has been paid, we will still require a release to make sure that the paperwork is processed appropriately.

If you have proof that the loan was paid in full, please provide it to your closer. In some instances, with some additional information, we may be able to work with you and your lender to make sure that the release is recorded, or that the delay in recording the release doesn’t hold up your closing.

The commitment you receive via email will be linked, and therefore you should have access to each document shown in the commitment by clicking the link.  If you need any assistance, please reach out to your closing team. 

At the beginning of your title commitment, just under the “Estimate of Fees”, and just before Schedule A, you’ll see a heading called “Chain of Title Documents” with one or more hyperlinks below it. These links will take you to each chain of title document that was recorded in the past 24 months. This section of your commitment will always contain, at a minimum, the most recent vesting deed for the property, even if that deed was recorded more than 24 months ago.

A C-1 Endorsement is a written endorsement showing only the conveyances in the past 24 months. The C-1 Endorsement will show “NONE” if the most recent deed was recorded more than 24 months ago.

Yes. We review recorded documents in the chain to determine if a reissue (discounted) rate is applicable, but sometimes we’re unable to tell if a transaction was insured. We ask for evidence of title insurance, in the form of the policy issued, to revise the rate.

At Land Title, we offer an Ownership, Name and Encumbrance Report, which we call an ONE Report. It provides the name(s) of the last recorded owner(s), the legal description, encumbrances, which for the purposes of this report, means deeds of trust and mortgages, and liens recorded against the owner(s) in the records of the clerk and recorder for the county in which the subject property is located. Electronic copies of the corresponding documents are linked in the Report. The ONE Report does not provide any insurance, and it does not include a title examination.

We can’t provide you with raw data from a title search. However, we do have a variety of products that can provide as much or as little information as you need about a particular property. Additionally, we can perform some limited title research for you at a rate of $135 per hour. If you are in need of some title work outside of a transaction, please reach out to your sales representative or our Customer Response Department to discuss your needs; we may be able to find a product that meets your needs.

For information about easements, please order a Property Information Binder (or a TBD Commitment if there is a pending transaction). Note that an O&E report does not provide enough research to locate easements.

• Although many real estate transactions do include the transfer of water rights, our title commitments generally will not provide you with any information about water rights, and the title policies that we issue will not insure water rights. Water rights in our arid state can be complicated, as there are many different ways to hold and transfer those rights. If water rights are critical to your transaction, we recommend hiring a water expert to assist you in determining what water right, if any, are being transferred as a part of your transaction and to guarantee that you are obtaining the water rights that you intend.

  For more general information regarding water rights in Colorado, please reach out to the Colorado Division of Water Resources.