Title Insurance

[AmyKat]

When buying a resell contract, do you normally purchase title insurance or do you have faith that Disney does a thorough job of clearing the title? Our broker is giving us the choice. It's only $100 but I don't want to spend money wastefully if not necessary/common practice.

Thanks!

 

[CMNJ]

I would absolutely do it. Compared to the cost of your purchase it is not much to pay for it and will protect you in case of a mistake or future problem. There is another board with a thread about a current owner who had a pretty crazy situation this summer related to a BLT purchase (that was supposed to have include title insurance). somehow after closing and recording the deed it was discovered that a significant amount of money was owed to DVC by the previous owner and until the matter was cleared up they wouldn't transfer the contract into his name. In a case like this title insurance would protect the buyer (his situation was different b/c apparently the title insurance policy was never issued despite being paid for and after weeks of going around with the broker and title company it was finally resolved).

 

[disneynutz]

My guess is 95% of resale transactions buy title insurance.

Bill

 

[Dean]

When buying a resell contract, do you normally purchase title insurance or do you have faith that Disney does a thorough job of clearing the title? Our broker is giving us the choice. It's only $100 but I don't want to spend money wastefully if not necessary/common practice.

Thanks!

I know most here would be I would not. I have not and I've owned over 50 timeshare weeks/contracts in my adult lifetime. IMO it's wasted money unless there are red flags such as a bankruptcy, out of the country or non married joint owners. It's cheap simply because the chances of it coming into play are almost nil.

 

[AmyKat]

Thank you all!

 

[bwvBound]

You may want to ask how much the Insurance will pay if problems are later discovered?

I've been battling a deed problem with a non-DVC purchase from 2007. The timeshare property (as a whole) went into BK in 2012, was sold and the proceeds are now being paid out. I had two 'intervals' with the property. The first interval was paid out in full in a timely fashion. The second interval, with a problem discovered during the BK process, has taken much time and effort. The BK trustee shut me out entirely until I produced my Title Insurance. At this point, I'm expecting a partial payment on the second interval. I'll lose up to $2250 (compared to the first interval) because of the deed problems and the Title Insurance only pays out $500 (the price paid for the second interval before deed prep, title and insurance!). Sigh. On the bright side, if I didn't have the Title Insurance I would have lost far more than the $2250.

 

[AmyKat]

Our seller is in the UK so we decided to get the insurance. I will check on coverage. Thank you! I wouldn't have thought of that.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I read about a resale purchase on another board where there were problems galore. The purchaser paid for title insurance, but it appeared that the agent did not purchase it. And lots of money was owed on the membership. It took forever to get it closed and done without extra money from the purchaser.

 

[AmyKat]

That's awful and somewhat terrifying for someone just starting this process for a first purchase.

 

[ktmo]

Not to hijack the thread, but when were you given the option to purchase Title Insurance? I just signed a contract and am in the initial stages of ROFR. I don't remember seeing anything about title insurance in the documents that I have seen/signed.

 

[AmyKat]

I talked to the agent about it when my offer was accepted and there was a box to check on the "Contract for Sale and Purchase" documents.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say the broker that I'm using but it's one of the ones listed on the FAQ post in this forum.