F.A.Q.

Q. What is Title Insurance?

A. When you buy a home you want to be sure that no one else has an ownership, interest, or claim on your new property. Title Insurance gives you that assurance for a one time fee and protects you from any claims against the property for the duration of the time you own that property.

Title insurance protects against:

• Forgery, false impersonation, and incorrect legal descriptions
• Deeds delivered after death, by persons of unsound mind, minors, or those not properly delivered
• Misinterpretation of wills, deeds, or marital status of grantor
• Undisclosed or missing heirs
• Wills not properly probated, mistakes in recording legal documents
• Record defects, liens, encumbrances, adverse claims or matters not known or disclosed to the new owner that attach before the date of policy Legal right of access

These are just some of the possible defects title insurance will protect you against. There are also extended policies you can get to protect yourself further.

If a claim is made against you, once you have notified the title company of the claim, they will take care of it for you. This includes negotiating the claim, defending the claim in court, all legal costs incurred, and paying the amount necessary to satisfy the claim. You get a lot of peace of mind and security for a small price!

Q.What types of payments are acceptable at a real estate settlement?

A. If you will be bringing any funds to settlement, the funds must be in the form of a cashier’s check, a treasurer’s check, a certified check, or a similar type of “guaranteed” instrument that is made payable to BRIAN FREDERICK FUNK, P.A.. If you would like to wire funds to us for this settlement, please contact me immediately so that I may provide you with wiring instructions for our escrow account. Please be advised that our office will not accept a personal check on the day of settlement.

Q.  Do I need to supply the Tax I.D. or Social Security number of the seller.

A. In order to process the transaction, the government requires that our office obtain each and every seller’s tax identification number (typically, this is a seller’s social security number) and thereafter report the sale to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). At settlement, each seller will receive a 1099-S stating the total contract purchase price of the property. Since there are multiple sellers with an ownership interest in the property, you may split the total contract purchase price of the property. If the property was your principal residence, you may be entitled to avoid receiving a 1099-S by providing us with a fully-executed certification of exemption  before the settlement occurs. You should consult your tax professional prior to coming to closing because I am prohibited from giving you tax advice.