What Does a Title Insurance Underwriter Do?

The key to a Better Closing Experience? An expert Underwriter.

Most home buyers give little thought to their title insurance underwriter. If they think of this person at all, they probably envision someone at a keyboard entering an address and waiting for results. Maybe the underwriter looks at a few documents and then issues a policy, but the skills and experience of your underwriter shape the quality of your title policy in ways you probably never knew. For this reason, it’s important to know what insurance underwriters do and the traits that make a good one.

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What Does a Title Insurance Underwriter Do?

A title insurance underwriter usually works for either the title company or the title insurer and is responsible for checking the title to the property to ensure ownership and rights to the parcel of land in question. This usually entails research of the chain of title looking for anything that could present the owner with challenges to their ownership and/or rights to the enjoyment of their property. Common issues with titles could include defects such as:

• Legal description problems
• Liens or Judgments attaching to the property
• Omitted heirs, unreleased marital rights, rights of minors,
• Defective former deeds in the chain of ownership

To ensure a clear title, the title insurance underwriter must pay particular attention to public records like deeds, marriage certificates, wills, and other documents found by the title searcher in order to identify and help cure defects that could impact the owner’s rights to the property in question. The title underwriter may also need to draw on other sources of data necessary to resolve and cure problems discovered during the search process.

The underwriter is also responsible for reviewing and listing anything found in the chain of ownership that would be an exception to the title insurance policy that the owner will receive for their property. These exceptions are called “exclusions to the policy” and are extremely important to the property transaction. These could include things like easements, encroachments and other government-or platted related restrictions that could impact the owner’s use and enjoyment of the property.

What Qualities are Necessary for a Good Title Insurance Underwriter?

Someone who wants to have a career in title insurance is usually a detail-oriented person who enjoys problem solving. They rise to a challenge and want to make sure every ‘i’ is dotted and every detail is documented. They are not looking for the quickest method but do need to be aware of the importance of a deadline and how their job fits into the sales timeline.

Great Title Insurance Underwriters often have a strong understanding of real estate law and keep up with their knowledge of the industry. Their knowledge of the law and familiarity with precedents from curing past title defects help underwriters solve complicated problems and efficiently allow closings to continue with minimal disruption.

At Bay National Title we hire professionals who are dedicated to customer service and believe in helping educate our customers on the title closing process. When everyone has a firm understanding of the title process closings are much more enjoyable.

We hire the best, most focused title underwriters. We want to deliver clean titles, and help customers close on schedule with all their title problems resolved. We also ensure our practices stay current by educating and encouraging our teams to pursue additional learning opportunities. Each member of our team helps add value to the company, and that’s why we have a very selective hiring process.

If you’re purchasing a home or other property make sure you are as selective about your title company and their title insurance underwriting team as you are about the area in which you choose to purchase a home. Not all title underwriters are the same. Have someone on your side who is dedicated to improve your home buying experience.

Contact Bay National Title Company today.