Real questions from real files

Covered defects in the property's ownership history that existed before your policy date but weren't known: forged or defective deeds, unknown heirs, unreleased mortgages, recording errors, certain liens, and fraud in the chain. It also pays the legal defense of your title against covered claims — one premium, coverage for as long as you own the property.

The premium essentially is — Florida promulgates title insurance rates by administrative rule, statewide. What varies between companies is service fees, diligence quality, communication, and what happens when a problem appears. Shop the work, not the premium.

The lender's policy protects only the lender's lien, decreases with the loan balance, and dies at payoff. The owner's policy protects your equity, lasts as long as you own the property, and is the one that actually protects YOU. Issued together, simultaneous-issue pricing makes the second policy inexpensive.

A reduced promulgated rate schedule that applies when qualifying prior owner's coverage exists on the property. Eligibility is documentary — send us the prior policy and we confirm the credit and its exact amount on your quote. On mid-priced South Florida homes it commonly saves hundreds of dollars.

More than anyone: with no lender in the deal, no lender's policy exists either — declining the owner's policy means zero title protection, forever, on the largest unprotected check you may ever write. The search finds what's findable; the policy covers what isn't.

Cash: commonly two to three weeks. Financed: thirty to forty-five days, driven mostly by the lender. The title-side variables are estoppel and municipal search turnaround — which is why we order everything on day one.

No. Close in our office if you like it old-school, by mobile notary at your table, or by remote online notarization from anywhere eligible — international signers included. Tell us your preference at file opening and we stage the logistics.

Yes — it's the underwriter's binding offer to insure, and its Schedule B-I (requirements) predicts your closing's critical path while Schedule B-II (exceptions) lists what the policy won't cover. Our guide 'The title commitment, explained' walks it in ten minutes, and our team flags anything unusual affirmatively.

You hear about it immediately, in plain English, with a plan: what it is, who must act, what it costs, and whether your date is at risk. Administrative cures (satisfactions, estoppels, releases) run in-house in parallel; legal cures (probate, quiet title, homestead fixes) can be handled by our law firm under a separate engagement.

The contract decides; custom suggests. In Broward and Miami-Dade the buyer customarily selects (and pays for the owner's policy); in Palm Beach County the seller customarily does both. Either way it's negotiable — and since premiums are state-set, the choice is purely about quality.

Florida's transfer taxes: $0.70 per $100 of price on deeds statewide — except Miami-Dade, which charges $0.60 for single-family homes and $1.05 (with surtax) for everything else — plus $0.35 per $100 on mortgage notes, and a separate 0.2% intangible tax on the mortgage amount. Our calculators apply all of it, county-correct.

Run our Closing Cost Calculator for your real numbers in about a minute — promulgated title premium, taxes, and recording, plus your loan specifics. Financed buyers commonly land around 2–4% of price all-in (mostly lender-driven); cash buyers far less; sellers' big three are commission, deed stamps, and payoff.

At closing, by verified wire (most files) or as your contract provides. You'll have the settlement statement showing every figure before signing day — and our wire-verification ritual, including callback confirmation, before a dollar moves.

Your sale price minus everything that comes out of it — payoff, commission, doc stamps, title items per county custom, prorations — yielding your estimated walk-away number. Our net sheet tool computes it live with county-correct math; agents use it in listing appointments.

After authority exists — which may mean probate (summary or formal), or none at all if a funded trust, survivorship title, or recorded Lady Bird deed carries it outside probate. The title exam answers which world you're in; the law firm can open and run any required probate in sync with the sale, under a separate engagement.

A certification of trust (and succession documents if a successor trustee is acting) proving today's trustee holds the power of sale. Have the certification prepared when you list — it's the single document that prevents most trust-sale delays. If the trust was never funded with the property, we'll catch that early and the law firm can advise on the cure.

Routinely — with the entity active, the signer's authority documented, and the deed, policy, insurance, and funds flow all respecting the structure. Financing an LLC purchase means non-conventional loan products; deeding mortgaged property into an LLC later can trigger doc stamps and lender issues, so ask before, not after.

Generally 15% of the GROSS price is withheld at closing and remitted to the IRS as a deposit against your actual tax — with exceptions (the $300k residence exception, reduced 10% band) and reduction paths (withholding certificates) that reward early planning. Tell us and your tax professional the day you decide to sell; weeks convert directly into options.

Yes — English, Español, Русский, and Українська. South Florida closes in many languages; so do we.

Because you called us — at a number from this website or your title commitment, never from the email — and we verified every digit by voice. Our instructions never change mid-transaction; anything claiming otherwise is an attack. This ritual is non-negotiable on our files.

Encrypted in transit, stored in a private access-controlled bucket with server-side type and size enforcement, readable only by our team — never by public link. Details on the Title Order Security page.

Don't reply, don't click, don't wire. Call us at 954.454.4522 immediately. If money already moved, call your bank's fraud line first, then us, then file at ic3.gov — in that order, in minutes. Speed decides recovery odds.

Contract-to-close checklists (including probate, trust, FIRPTA, and condo playbooks), a title-defect escalation lane with same-day triage, live net sheet and buyer estimate tools for appointments, secure ordering and contract upload, and a portal showing your files' real status. All free, no referral conditions — see the Realtor Program Disclosures.

No — never. RESPA Section 8 prohibits paying for settlement-service referrals, and our programs are built clean: education, tools, and service quality are the whole pitch. The disclosure page says this in writing because it should be in writing.

That's literally what the escalation lane is for — problem files, honest triage, same business day. Submit it with the commitment and contract attached and our team (with attorney supervision) tells you quickly whether your date is savable and what it takes.