Woody Creek purchased two parcels of land and purchased title insurance for it. After developing the property and attempting to sell it, he discovered that there was no legal access to one of the parcels. The title company, Fidelity National Title Insurance Company negotiated for a 30-year easement but Woody Creek wanted more.

Click here to see how the courts ruled.

Title Insurance is a specialty coverage purchased to protect the purchaser from problems with the title that were not discovered during a title search. It is a backward looking coverage because the coverage is for a fault made in the title in the past that will impact the rights of the current purchaser of the property.

Click here to read the PF&M overview of this coverage.

Title insurance is part of most real estate closings because that is when the title transfer typically takes place. A real estate agent is often a part of that closing transaction and may have been involved in selecting the company providing the title insurance. This is just one of the many advisory roles of a real estate agency.

Click here to review a narrative describing the exposures and coverage needs of a real estate agency.

A real estate broker has many responsibilities. Many exposures are covered under the CGL but the professional exposures are not. If you are interested in providing coverage for a real estate agency, one must-have coverage is Real Estate Brokers Professional Liability. While there is no standard form for this coverage (although ISO has recently developed one that may eventually be a standard) there are features that are common.

Click here for an analysis of common features used in real estate professional coverage.