Content area
Full text
The nation's title insurers are using high-tech to streamline processes.
Compared to other industries, the title insurance field has been slow to embrace technology. Although all of the nation's leading title insurers have comprehensive Websites, electronic ordering and processing programs, and various technological initiatives in the works or under development, the inherent nature of title searches and analysis processes may sometimes defy technology.
"If you surveyed the country, you would find that most areas are still doing it the way they did 100 years ago," says Ed Burton, vice president and central region manager for Chicago Title Corp. "The industry has not advanced with technology as much as you might think."
As title insurance companies begin the task of insuring a purchaser's or lender's interest in a particular piece of real estate, their first chore after receiving an order is to pore through public records and historical documents to determine the legitimacy of ownership and the insurability of a particular borrower or buyer.
Needless to say, this process becomes more complicated than conducting a basic credit check or confirming who holds title to a particular property. A myriad liens and other legal and regulatory factors can come into play, especially with commercial property transactions, where special coverages or endorsements may be necessary. Legal requirements and procedures differ in each jurisdiction of the country, adding further complications.
All of this points to the difficulty for the industry to create a one-size-fitsall model for computer-generated search and analysis for complicated commercial transactions.
On its Website, Chicago Title & Trust gives a basic list of some of the most common hidden risks that can cause loss or create an encumbrance on title -- false impersonation of the true owner of the property; forged deeds, releases or wills; undisclosed or missing heirs; instruments executed under invalid or expired power of attorney; or mistakes in recording legal documents.
Those are just the basics, which makes it easy to understand why a title insurer needs not only to search, but also to properly analyze the findings of the search to best determine what type of coverage the title insurance company can safely afford to offer. Bottom line - it's a question of risk management.
Bucking a static bureaucracy
To a...