Owner's Title Policy

Should I get an owner's title policy? 

I'm not an attorney, so I can't give you legal advice, but yes, you probably should, and here's why.

It's the best type of insurance you can get because you pay for it once and it covers your housing investment (read the fine print to see what exactly is covered). Trust me, if someone ever shows up at your house claiming to own it and you have nothing to fall back on, that's not a good position to be in.

Your owner's policy will generally cover title defects previously undetected, and you're covered up to the amount you paid for the house. If you have a mortgage, your lender sure has a policy covering them (the amount of the mortgage), which you paid for them by the way. Or, if you (as a buyer) negotiated seller paid closing costs, then the seller paid it for you for your lender, which you then paid for in the actual purchase price that was truly paid by your mortgage company (see my post on confusion at closing).

If your closing is handled by an attorney, ask about an owner's title policy or an attorney's opinion of clear title. The bottom line is that you want protection against any future claims of ownership against your property. While it's unlikely that someone out there is holding a quit-claim deed or tax sale deed or some other document that could potentially harm you, the only way to know you have some kind of protection is to get some kind of insurance against it.

Calculate your title fees here. Keep in mind that many buyers today ask the seller to pay fees like these on their behalf at closing.

http://public.edinarealty.com/PremiumCalculator/PremiumCalculatorPublic.cfm