Introducing a New Standard in Homeownership Awareness
Buying a home is one of the most significant financial decisions most people will ever make.
But here’s what most don’t realize…Once you close, visibility into your property doesn’t continue with you. Public records can change. Documents can be recorded. Your property could even be listed without your knowledge. And traditionally, homeowners are left in the dark.
At Ticor Title, we believe your experience shouldn’t stop at the signing table. That’s why we’re introducing Property Monitoring through InHere
A complimentary service available to our buyers after closing. This isn’t something you have to sign up for. This isn’t another paid subscription. It’s automatically included when you close with Ticor Title.
What It Does and Why It Matters:
Property Monitoring keeps homeowners informed by sending real-time alerts when key activity is detected on their property, including:
Recorded documents like liens or deeds
Listing activity tied to the property
It’s simple, but powerful.
Because the reality is, you can’t act on what you don’t know.
This service gives homeowners visibility after closing, when traditionally there has been none.
Title Insurance Helps Protect Ownership
This Creates Awareness
Property Monitoring extends that mindset beyond closing.
It reinforces:
Confidence in your investment
Awareness of potential issues
Ongoing connection to your home
Homeownership doesn’t stop at closing.
Now, neither does your awareness.
You have a choice, choose Ticor Title and monitor your investment beyond closing.
What is an Easement and Why Should I Care?
You’re out shopping for property and may have just found your dream home when your Realtor® informs you that “the driveway easement to the street runs over the neighbor’s property over there.” Great! Huh? Is that a problem or what? In this case it’s not a problem at all. The copy of the title report that the listing agent provided confirms that the easement is included in the legal description and is therefore “ok”.
In our scenario the dream home property benefits from the easement over the abutting neighbor’s property. That same easement burdens the neighbor’s property.
So, what exactly is an easement? One definition that I like a lot is: “the right to use someone else’s property for a specific purpose.”
adj. pertaining to something that attaches. In real property law this describes any right or restriction which goes with that property, such as an easement to gain access across the neighbor's parcel, or a covenant (agreement) against blocking the neighbor's view. Thus, there are references to appurtenant easement or appurtenant covenant.
The dream home property has an appurtenant easement over the neighbor’s property. Its owners and/or guests have the benefit of coming and going over the driveway area without needing permission from the neighbor to cross over their land. On the other hand the neighbor that is burdened by the easement must not impair or restrict the use of the easement area on their property.
If a piece of property does not abut or “touch” a public road it will be necessary to establish an easement over the parcel(s) of land that lie(s) between the nearest public road and the property. Without a valid easement a property owner may not have the legal right to go over their neighbor’s property and that could cause big problems down the road (pardon the pun). Without legal access a property is said to be landlocked or having lack of access.
Not to worry! Once you purchase your dream home you can rest assured that your Ticor Title policy insures that you the owner have access rights.
If you have an active transaction with Ticor Title and would like to review the preliminary title commitment with us, please contact your Ticor Representative or call our headquarters at 425-255-7575.
Donation Matching & Food for Pictures… Get more mileage out of your donation!
Our Ticor Gives Back campaign is in full swing with our staff rallying to fill the boxes in each branch and our giving spirits are high. On Monday alone, our Renton branch filled 11 boxes (200 food items). And the emails back and forth on our team are so positive and full of gratitude as we work together to get involvement. It is a great thing to be a part of.
Now, I mentioned in my last post that there are a few of us who have offered to donate extra under certain circumstances. So to make it easy, we’ve put together a couple videos to explain:
If you would like to get involved, please email us, call 425-255-7575, or stop by one of our escrow branches with a donation of any amount.
Achieving Higher & Greener Standards in Real Estate
Q: Is there an organization working on standardizing and streamlining the property records & transaction process in the United States so that we can have more efficient and greener real estate transactions in the future?
A: Why yes! In fact PRIA (Property Records Industry Association) is devoted to working on such things!
And we have had the privilege of having a brief phone interview with one of PRIA’s advisory council members, Mark Monacelli. In 2007 Mark was recognized with the PRIA Carl R. Ernst Award for Unique Industry Leadership. In the interview below, Mark explains what they do and how they are working to create higher and greener standards in the Real Estate industry.
PRIA is a non profit that develops standards and best practices on specific subjects within the Real Estate Industry. They create standards for a wide range of things including document formatting, eRecording standards, and a uniform set of standards from loan origination to closing for all states in the US.
If you have ideas, questions, or feedback on how you think the Real Estate Records process could be more efficient, please chime in by commenting below.
Ticor Gives Back – and has a little fun in the process
This week kicks off our “Ticor Gives Back” initiative. We’ve formed a committee, done our homework on local organizations, printed up fliers, and rallied our staff with a little incentive to give a little extra this year. And sure enough, the announcement to the sales team that we were having a community support-drive spurred on a bit of healthy competition. Here are the challenges we have so far…
1 Picture = 1 Can. As an incentive to get the word out, I pledged to donate one can of food for every picture sent to me that relates to a client or employee making a donation.
The first to get 5 people involved. Our county manager (Marci) and sales manager (Ryan) challenged each other thusly:
The first person to get 5 clients to donate at least 1 can of food wins. The loser has to donate 10 cans and $20.
This one was settled within 48 hours when Marci sent the following picture to the sales team, simultaneously winning the challenge and being the first to submit a picture, requiring me to donate 1 can! Way to go, Marci!
Image by shooting brooklyn via FlickrIn all seriousness, we truly feel blessed and want to share with our community. A little healthy competition on our team is sincerely intended to generate more relief in a shorter amount of time for people in need in the Puget Sound area.
If you would like to get involved, please email us, call 425-255-7575, or stop by one of our escrow branches with a donation of any amount.
Even one can of non perishable food can make a difference in someone’s day. And remember every photo of someone participating in Ticor Gives Back will help a family!
Happy Giving!
Matt Sweet
Ticor Title
*All donations will be delivered to Northwest Harvest, Helping Hand House, Hope Link and the Humane Society.
Is someone using my photos without permission? Find out who!
Is someone using my photo without permission? Have you ever wondered this? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a quick tool for finding out?
Tineye.com can help!
Tineye is a reverse image lookup tool (and it’s free). What does that mean? Basically, you can show tineye your photo and it will show you where it found that photo or similar photos elsewhere online. Very cool!
So if you have a prize winning photo of a real estate listing or sunset photo of Mt. Rainier that you don’t want anyone to use without your permission, you now have a tool for finding photo poachers!
Why do I need Title Insurance? The Tale of the old Utility Agreement…
Why do we need title insurance? Let us count the ways… Below is a scenario that came about in an older, well established neighborhood with a rich history of utility technologies (i.e. a variety of plumbing and utility technologies from the last 80 or so years). Needless to say, in this case a title issue arose when plumbing and utility upgrades became necessary.
The Old Utility Agreement Rears its Head
The Old Agreement
In 1975 an agreement was recorded between Bill Home Owner and the local utility company. This agreement allowed a sub-standard temporary hook-up to utilities (a water line). The agreement stated that the owner would pay a fee at a later time to connect to the water system when the utility company installs / upgrades their system.
Fast forward decades…
The property had been bought and sold several times since the agreement was established. But, when the utility company completed their upgrade, this triggered the need for the homeowner to upgrade their connection to the utility per the 1975 agreement. The cost of this upgrade in today’s dollars is approximately $5,000, a substantial amount that the current home owner did not anticipate when purchasing the home.
The Resolution
Jake and Susan, the present home owners, tendered a claim to Ticor Title with whom they are insured. And in this particular case, it was determined that the matter was covered under their title insurance policy. Ticor coordinated with Jake and Susan and the utility company to pay the outstanding amount owed to the utility company per the agreement. Ticor also received a release of the 1975 agreement from the utility company and recorded the release in order to remove the cloud on title.
Ticor Title is backed by the nation’s largest title insurance claims reserves, giving us a strong financial position and unsurpassed ability to pay claims for our insured. If you are unsure of your current title insurance company’s solvency or ability to pay claims, or have questions about your coverage, please contact us.
Best Regards,
Ticor Title
425-255-7575
facebook.com/myticor
@myticor
Site Search
Latest Posts
Welcome Christy Newsome to the Team!
We are proud to welcome Christy Newsome to Ticor Title. Christy Newsome has nearly three decades of experience in
Welcome to the Team Jody Marchand!
Jody Marchand: Trusted Escrow Officer Serving Washington With over 25 years in Washington’s real estate market, Jody Marchand brings unmatched
We have been voted as the #1 Best Title Company! Thank You from Ticor Title!
Thank you from all of us at Ticor Title for your vote as the #1 BEST TITLE COMPANY! To view
Happy Labor Day From Ticor Title!
Ticor Title offices will be closed on Monday, September 4th, 2023 in observance of the holiday. Thank you!
Exciting News! Team Ohana has joined Ticor Title!
Naomi ArmstrongSales ExecutiveNaomi.Armstrong@ticortitle.comTeamOhana@ticortitle.comCall or Text: c: 206-409-1833 About Naomi: A little about me. I attended the University of Washington, GO
