Real Estate Title Issues Marked Title Commitments: What are they and why are they needed? November 2008 A title commitment is issued by the title company. It is their promise as to what title insurance they are agreeing to provide. Since title companies have no fiduciary obligations to their customers, they have no obligation to provide their customer with the cheapest, most comprehensive title coverage. They are not promising there is good, marketable title, they are simply saying what they are willing to cover. A “marked” title commitment is a title commitment that has been changed to provide the correct or better coverage. The title commitment is actually amended much in the way a purchase agreement is amended, by crossing out information to be deleted, adding clauses that are needed and initialed by someone at the title company with authority. The question then becomes – who is reviewing the title commitment to make sure that there are not tile problems and that the buyer obtains the best coverage? The normal buyer does not understand a title commitment but do you? Are you reviewing the title commitment? Is anyone reviewing it?   Click here to read the rest of the article The New ALTA Forms are Here! You need to know the differences between the 1992 and 2006 forms  Whether you want to better protect your client or whether you are the buyer or lender in the transaction, you need to know about the new title policies that will begin to filter into the marketplace. There are a number of significant differences between the old forms and the new. In order to protect yourself or your client you need to understand the differences. While nobody likes changes, the new forms are better and if you know and understand those changes you will have an advantage over all those who don’t take the time to learn about and understand the changes. To read the rest of this article click here