"John Wilson" wrote
It doesn't matter if the house is only 7 years old. The Insurance
Department
of the state you live in dictates how many years back the title insurance
company has to search in order to provide title insurance. Here in
Pennsylvania, we have to search back 60 years in order to get title
insurance. Title insurance is a must when buying real estate. Don't be
caught without it. The title search is one thing of the puzzle. Let's say
the current owners of the property come to closing sign the Deed and all
the
closing papers. The attorney or title company gives the sellers their
check
and the buyers move into their house. About, a year later the buyers get a
letter from an attorney representing the wife, who claims her husband
brought his girlfriend to closing and they purportrated a fraud. Not what?
If you have title insurance you file a claim, and the title insurance
company pays the wife off, the title insurance company goes after the
husband and his girlfriend prosecutes them if they can be found. However,
if
you don't have title insurance your **** out of luck. You either pay the
wife off, or you loose the house. Caveat Emptor-Let the buyer beware.

Fair enough. And the houses I am looking at do tend to look like those
divorcees inhabit for a short-term...

Good example.