• What you need to know about Florida title insurancehome sweet home image by David Dorner from Fotolia.com
  
  A title is a right to either part or whole ownership of a portion of real estate. Florida title insurance is purchased by a buyer for protection when purchasing property. The title insurance policy covers the buyer for any title defects, liens or other matters that might come up after the purchase is complete.
  
  

Title Defect or Lien

• Title defect might occur if there is a gap in the property ownership history, resulting in the sudden return of a previous owner and claim that they have right to the property in question. A lien might be placed on a property to secure imbursement of debt. When referring to real estate, liens follow the property so being insured against such an instance is in the buyer's best interest.
  
  

Creation of Title Insurance Regulation

• Title insurance regulation in Florida began because the Florida Office of Regulation (OIR) wanted to be sure that insurance companies supplied insurance products to Florida consumers at a fair price. It governs licensing, premium rates, solvency and other issues as well as sets performance measures and performance evaluation standards.
  
  

Cost Analysis

• Section 627.782 of the Florida Code controls title insurance rates and rates for associated title services. To determine the cost of title insurance in Florida, a sample of 48 Florida HUD-1 forms are first examined. This is done to analyze premium costs and other service charges. Besides premiums, consumers also pay title search, settlement fees and document preparation. Florida premium rates are compared to premiums that exist across states and in different price ranges. First American is one of the largest title insurance writers, so its website is used to calculate average premiums. It calculate rates assuming prior and non-prior coverage. In Florida, the cost of title insurance is compared to all-inclusive (its quoted rates include costs besides just the premium) states California, Texas and Pennsylvania. The Florida premium does not include related charges, so the average title price of the all-inclusive states is compared to the Florida premium to come up with a break-even point for related charges. The First American site is used to compare Florida premium costs to states that are non-inclusive. Comparisons are again made for prior and non-prior coverage.
  
  

Summary of Title Insurance Regulations

• First, the premium is a charge that is a one-time fee. It is chiefly a service fee to cover the cost of investigating the public record. Second, there is not a set term for title insurance coverage. Third, the policy does not cover future actions, only past incidents. Fourth, title companies have considerable expense in upholding title plants. Fifth, the policy cannot be canceled by the insurance company or the insured person. Sixth, there is only a minimal fraction of the premium paid out in claims.