Title insurance is a good idea. Title companies are a complete joke. Find me one, just ONE, that will abstract a property before insuring it, require a meaningful certification on a survey before using it to satisfy the survey exceptions, AND file the exhibit describing the property with your deed the first time. I don't think one exists.

Can someone explain why title insurance in Texas is markedly higher than in other states?

The article explains it. The industry pays big bucks to lobby the legislature. They take some of their excess profits and feed to the politicians campaigns. They in turn protect those profits by not setting rates at market.

normaleagle05 said:

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Title insurance is a good idea. Title companies are a complete joke. Find me one, just ONE, that will abstract a property before insuring it, (in my twenty years in the title business, we abstracted every tract) require a meaningful certification on a survey before using it to satisfy the survey exceptions, (I have no idea what that means) AND file the exhibit describing the property with your deed the first time. (Again, I have no idea what that means) I don't think one exists.

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Martin Cash said:

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normaleagle05 said:

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Title insurance is a good idea. Title companies are a complete joke. Find me one, just ONE, that will abstract a property before insuring it, (in my twenty years in the title business, we abstracted every tract) require a meaningful certification on a survey before using it to satisfy the survey exceptions, (I have no idea what that means) AND file the exhibit describing the property with your deed the first time. (Again, I have no idea what that means) I don't think one exists.

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A) When did that end? They all balk at the idea of research older than 50 years now. That power transmission easement from the 1920's with a 345kV line is noticable in the field though.
B) You're proving my point. A surveyor signing/sealing a minimum standards certification isn't certifying to easements, improvements, or encroachments.
C) About every third recently conveyed tract I survey it or an adjoiner have a deed filed with no Exhibit A in the filing, even though it references one. I researched a place this spring that had that and a correction filed. No Exhibit A with the correction either. That's beyond lazy.

normaleagle05 said:

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Martin Cash said:

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normaleagle05 said:

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Title insurance is a good idea. Title companies are a complete joke. Find me one, just ONE, that will abstract a property before insuring it, (in my twenty years in the title business, we abstracted every tract) require a meaningful certification on a survey before using it to satisfy the survey exceptions, (I have no idea what that means) AND file the exhibit describing the property with your deed the first time. (Again, I have no idea what that means) I don't think one exists.

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A) When did that end? They all balk at the idea of research older than 50 years now. That power transmission easement from the 1920's with a 345kV line is noticable in the field though.
B) You're proving my point. A surveyor signing/sealing a minimum standards certification isn't certifying to easements, improvements, or encroachments.
C) About every third recently conveyed tract I survey it or an adjoiner have a deed filed with no Exhibit A in the filing, even though it references one. I researched a place this spring that had that and a correction filed. No Exhibit A with the correction either. That's beyond lazy.

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C) Are you talking about field notes for an acreage tract? If they're not attaching the legal description, yeah that's a problem.

Yes, though a lot of folks are using a referenced exhibit for lot and block conveyances as well. Forgotten in either case is a problem.

When you forget it on a correction document to correct the problem of forgetting it....it wasn't that you forgot.

ETA: And it shouldn't matter what is in the exhibit, legal description, permitted exceptions, photo of Bob Ross painting some happy trees, it's the title company employee's job to file it as it was executed. And it ain't that hard!

We just got sued by a guy claiming he has a contract for deed on a property we bought.

Can't wait for title insurance to refuse to pay for our attorney so we can pay him for the next year to fight for us.

The next year? I found a serious title defect in a 9 figure project back in early 2014. Still unresolved.