Enhanced Title Insurance

As your house goes up in value, shouldn’t your insurance increase with it? With Enhanced Title Insurance, your coverage grows with your investment.

Enhanced Title Insurance vs. Standard

There are few things more important than protecting a home. Even the best title search and examination cannot protect your equity and home from matters not appearing in the public record.

Very few people in the industry realize that like other insurance products, the title insurance industry has insurance products that offer different coverage. Some of the largest title insurance underwriters in the industry, offer an “enhanced” policy, which offers additional coverage from the “standard” coverage to the homeowner.

For example, a “standard” policy covers the homeowner for matters affecting title up to and including the date of the recordation of the Deed, while its “enhanced” title insurance policy provides coverage for 28 additional risks, many of them pertaining to future coverage and automatic increases of coverage to cover increases in the value of property.

Although the enhanced title insurance policy premium is twenty (20%) higher than the standard policy premium, the reality is a minimal cost to the homeowner for the ability to substantially reduce their risk and exposure on one of the largest investments they will make in a lifetime. For example, the difference in the standard premium and enhanced premium for a $250,000 house is $225 dollars; a $500,000 house is $425; a $750,000 house is $562; and a $1,000,000 house is $750.

To illustrate the differences between a standard and enhanced title policy, we are attaching a representative coverage comparison of standard and enhanced insurance product. We at Two Rivers Title Company hope that this will help you in deciding which policy is the best for you to protect your ownership in your home.

If you would like further information on the difference between coverage, please feel free to contact Two Rivers Title Company at 732-747-3615.

Representative Coverage Comparison

Both policies include:

• Mechanic’s Lien Coverage
• Third Party claims an interest in the title
• Improperly executed documents
• Pre-Policy forgery, fraud or duress
• Non-recorded restrictive covenants
• Defective recording of documents
• Prior recorded liens not disclosed in the policy
• Unmarketability of the title

Additional coverages in enhanced title insurance policy:

• Automatic Increase in original policy amount to cover increase in value of the property
• Policy insures anyone who inherits property from homeowner
• Policy insures a Trustee you transfer the property to after policy date
• Post Policy Forgery
• Post Policy encroachment onto insured land
• Enhanced existing right of access by including both pedestrian and vehicular access
• Losses due to building permit violations
• Losses due to existing violation of subdivision law
• Post policy structural damage from third party easement for mineral extraction
• Violations of restrictive covenants identified in the Policy:
  • Resulting in loss of title
  • Resulting in loss from correction or removal
  • Resulting in loss of use where single family dwelling prohibited
• Forced Removal of existing structure that:
  • Encroach onto an easement identified in the policy
  • Violate a building restriction line identified in the policy
  • Encroach onto a neighbor’s land
• Land cannot be used for single family dwelling under zoning ordinance