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TITLE GUARANTEE COMPANIES
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See also:TITLE See also:GUARANTEE COMPANIES , the name given to companies which apply the principle of corporate See also:indemnity to the See also:protection of those interested in real See also:estate titles, either as owners or lenders. They are of the class of indemnity companies in which technical skill and experience in investigation of risks are relied upon to protect the guarantor from loss. They are See also:peculiar to countries where the title to real estate is a See also:matter of public See also:record, and where the complexity of the record and the variety of possible liens and encumbrances have made it difficult and expensive to determine whether the title is See also:good. The only See also:country where they have reached large proportions or achieved success as See also:independent business enterprises is the See also:United States. In See also:Australia no investigation of a title to real estate is necessary, because before the See also:land passed into individual ownership the See also:government adopted a See also:system of See also:state See also:registration and guarantee of title, so that its certificate of registered title was universally accepted. In certain other countries there is neither registration of title nor recording of deeds; the title-deeds are preserved and passed from owner to owner, and are accepted on the authority of the records and opinions of See also:family solicitors. In the United States, however, there have been from the beginning acts providing that all deeds and mortgages be recorded, and the records, when properly made, constitute legal See also:notice to all the See also:world of their contents and claims. At the same See also:time, there are other records of See also:wills, suits, judgments, taxes and See also:mechanics' claims which may encumber the title. In the See also:great cities these various records became in course of time so voluminous that the proper investigation of them, and the determination of the validity of the title in view of them, required the best skill of an experienced lawyer and involved very heavy expenses. On a re-See also:sale of the See also:property the new buyer did not rely upon the lawyer who had made the examination for the seller, but See also:felt called upon to employ and pay his own lawyer, who had to go over the same See also:work again, and more, for with each new transaction the See also:history was getting longer. The delay and expense involved were great, and yet the owner had little or no protection, for a lawyer is not held to guarantee the correctness of his See also:opinion.
The first legislative See also: In 1869 the Real Estate Assurance Company of the See also:City of New York was chartered with the See also:sole See also:object of insuring the validity of titles, but was never organized. In 1871 a pamphlet was issued by a member of the New York See also:bar, calling See also:attention to the business carried on by the Prussian See also:Mortgage See also:Insurance Company of See also:Berlin, and outlining plans very similar to those now followed by the See also:principal title guarantee companies of the United States; but the pamphlet seems to have been forgotten. The first company actually to undertake the guarantee of real estate titles was formed in See also:Philadelphia, See also:Pennsylvania, in 1876. It differed from the Prussian Mortgage Insurance Company (which guaranteed titles merely as an incident in its business as a dealer in, and custodian and guarantor of, mortgages) in that its See also:main business was the issue of a policy of guarantee on a See also:transfer of title to land. The advantages of its method were immediately recognized. Corporations to carry on the business were organized in See also:Washington, See also:Baltimore, See also:Boston and New York, in the See also:order named, and subsequently in nearly every considerable city in the United States. In orcler to be independent of the inaccurate and clumsy methods of the public record offices, title guarantee companies generally compile in their own See also:office a copy or See also:digest of all the real estate records of the locality in which they are established, maintaining for this purpose a See also:staff of skilled clerks. To make the necessary examination of a title See also:prior to the issuing of a guarantee, they require continually a See also:body of experienced real estate lawyers. By these means a title can be examined and guaranteed in a See also:week, whereas See also:thirty or See also:forty days was formerly required. This has done much to make real estate available See also:capital, for individual and corporate lenders on mortgage accept the guarantee of the companies as the best See also:evidence of title, and loans can be had without the delay that once prevailed. The expense of maintaining the staff of clerks and lawyers is great, amounting to See also:half of the See also:gross charges on titles guaranteed. Strictly speaking, the risks outstanding are also large, See also:running up to $See also:ioo,000,000 a See also:year for a single company in New York City; but in well-managed companies the losses are very small, not exceeding 2 % of the gross charges on titles guaranteed, so that the outstanding obligations should scarcely be called risks. In spite of the office expenses, the charges for first bringing a piece of land under the guarantee are no more than owners were in the See also:habit of paying each time for examination and opinion by counsel, amounting to about one-half of i % on the value of the property or on the amount of the mortgage; and when once the guarantee has been issued, it is re-issued on a subsequent sale or mortgage on See also:short notice and for a small See also:fee. (C. H. Additional information and CommentsI am trying to locate a person who worked for Home Title Guarantee and Trust. I understand that you took over this company. I am looking for Maryann Gaffney. Please let me know if you have any information regarding her location. thankyou jerry O'neill
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