"John R Weiss" wrote in message
news:AYHVa.15079$uu5.2265@sccrnsc04...
"Caliban" wrote...
Let me add that I am looking at three houses. The oldest is 15 years
old.
The youngest is 7 years old, and the original owner is selling it. (I
have
paperwork from the county tax office confirming this.) All are in a
large
neighborhood development less than 20 years old. I see on the Internet
that
title companies advertise examining the title for the last, say, 40 or
60
years. I am not convinced (yet) that whoever does the title search has
much
to do at all for either of these three homes, especially for the
7-year-old,
original owner house.

What was the disposition of the land prior to the time it was subdivided
and
developed?

Yes, I agree that's still a concern. I'm inclined to believe that since it's
a huge development, a claim made based on some fact before it was developed
applies to all the homeowners in this huge development, not just me, so we'd
pool our resources.

But of course that means I'm assuming and therefore taking a risk, which may
be imprudent when I can spare a lot of potential pain for a few hundred
dollars.

Yes, title searches and insurance are, in part, a "scam" to perpetuate a
business. What business does not have an analogous "scam"?

You can either go with the program or accept the risks of bucking it.

All true. :-)

Thanks, all for your responses to date. I am thinking about what has been
said.