Title insurance?

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meme

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Paying off a mortgage, was never offered this on cottage but now house is coming due.

So the way I see this is I've got the title in my name, paid the mortgage off and now I should pay so no one can fraudulently take the title from me.

Any other recourse? Seems like a scam. I don't owe money so bank can't come after me, and I don't understand how the title could be transferred after this. Even if someone did pull the big scam how would I be liable? I think I've done my due.

Anyone in mortgages? Can you give me a valid reason to fork out 600 beans to say I own the property and paid off my loan? Bank records/land registry proves this....doesn't it?
 
Can someone also elaborate on the real estate frauds going on.
In passing I have heard about people's homes getting sold out under them.
I was told by one lawyer that ppl break into real estate lawyer's offices to steal their stamps (not postage stamps) to 'validate' documents and bank checks.

How does this crap happen in this day and age? Hell, we get the enth degree trying to withdraw $1000 or get small car loans from banks.
 
I don't know what has changed in the last few years but back a while I could find a crooked notary and present him with paperwork saying you gave me power of attorney over your finances and then sell your house.

My lawyer basically said it's cheaper to buy the insurance than set up and maintain firewalls.

You can have a zero mortgage by putting a line of credit on your house. Just don't use it or have it as backup for emergencies.

Is this a one time $600 or annually?

Your problem would come when a moving van pulls into your driveway and the new owners want you out. They have the deed to what you thought was your house.
 
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-D- said:
Can someone also elaborate on the real estate frauds going on.
In passing I have heard about people's homes getting sold out under them.
I was told by one lawyer that ppl break into real estate lawyer's offices to steal their stamps (not postage stamps) to 'validate' documents and bank checks.

How does this crap happen in this day and age? Hell, we get the enth degree trying to withdraw $1000 or get small car loans from banks.
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Or send supplies to an impoverished nation. lol
 
The system is screwed up IMO. Basically this should be 100% on the banks for not doing their homework when selling (financing I guess is a better term) a house or adding a new mortgage to a house--but it isn't. In what other area is something that has been stolen and found not returned to the uninsured owner?

As for the new buyers in this scam, well who buys a house without setting foot inside? Most of the time they must also be in on it.
 
nobbie48 said:
Or send supplies to an impoverished nation. lol
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Yes, that too. Paypal blocked and reversed a sub $100 donation because it contained the word Cuba in the description.

Ahhh, I recall one of the lawyers using the phrase power of attorney.
I guess the scammers show up to some govt. office with stamped documents and away they go.

Go to a music concert and you have to bring the credit card as id to show the tickets you bought actually belong to you...a house, nothing.:smilebox:
 
backmarkerducati said:
The system is screwed up IMO. Basically this should be 100% on the banks for not doing their homework when selling (financing I guess is a better term) a house or adding a new mortgage to a house--but it isn't. In what other area is something that has been stolen and found not returned to the uninsured owner?

As for the new buyers in this scam, well who buys a house without setting foot inside? Most of the time they must also be in on it.
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I think the screw up is/was at the registry office. Show up with the right looking paperwork and they do the transfer.

Once the property is in their name they can apply for a mortgage and then disappear.
 
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It's a one time fee.

Still confused but less now thanks for the info.
 
The whole system is stupid. I was converting a normal mortgage into a mortgage with a LOC. The fees involved basically required me to rebuy the house from myself including taking out title insurance again for the second time in 5 years with the same owner and same house. Ridiculous.
 
Its insurance against fraud, but please do due diligence that its a legitimate insurance company that will be in existance in a decade. Lots of these 'one time expense ' things fall through the cracks after a few years.
 
GreyGhost said:
The whole system is stupid. I was converting a normal mortgage into a mortgage with a LOC. The fees involved basically required me to rebuy the house from myself including taking out title insurance again for the second time in 5 years with the same owner and same house. Ridiculous.
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When we did ours I negotiated for the bank to pay all those charges and fees...
 
I wish I would have known and made em pay for it.

Fortunately my union will! Yay, first time in 2 decades I've had a use for the union.
 
You'll find most people pulling these elaborate scams are university educated or from Nigeria.
 
backmarkerducati said:
As for the new buyers in this scam, well who buys a house without setting foot inside? Most of the time they must also be in on it.
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What if I wait for a couple of snowbirds to take off to Florida for the winter and then show you their house for sale? I don't think it happens often, but when it does, it's legit and the people being scammed have no friggin clue until its too late. Its so easy to get information on people these days, you could literally sell their homes while they're on vacation. Take the money from the bank and adios...

Regarding title insurance as a whole - fraud is just a small part of it. The insurance is also supposed to protect against various title issues which could give you problems when trying to sell your home or have clear ownership of it. Liens, lawyer screwups, survey or public records errors, encroachment issues with neighbours, etc. If your due diligence is sound then technically you wouldn't need the insurance, but clerical errors happen, other **** happens, and sometimes lawyers who do 10 closings a day will miss key facts.

Educate yourself here: http://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/en/insurance/brochures/Documents/undstitins.pdf
 
Condos are not exempt from fraud. One condo that I used to do work on hired a new manager who used forged documents to get loans for renovations.

He then took off with the money.

He actually conned about a half dozen condos for hundreds of thousands each. Fortunately for the condos the courts put the bedpan in the hands of the loan companies. Not so good for the loan companies.
 
oddly this got me thinking about title insurance in a different way, turns out my houses in the US are covered against title fraud through my home owners insurance policies. I'm going to see if my CDN policy has any provision for that.

Turns out my wife works with a girl that shares power of attorney with a sister for her mom, mom is in a 'home' and her former residence is rented out. Sister uses power of attorney to obtain a mortgage of 500k on a property worth about 1mil . (mimico fixer upper) and promptly defaults on the mortgage having bought a cottage. They can sell the house, loose the house, file papers against the sister that will take 3-5yrs and cost many thousands more.
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