Getting ready to close on a new house No doubt you’re looking for ways to cut closing costs. A word of advice. Don’t even think about eliminating a title search on your new property! Why? As an experienced title company in Staunton, VA, Lilly Title & Settlement has seen properties that appeared to have clean titles actually have what are called “clouds.” For example, an old mortgage that doesn’t show it was ever paid off.

There is simply no way to know if the title to your home is clean until we do a title search. That’s why title insurance for your Staunton home is critical. But there is another factor to consider, one we feel is even more important.

No matter how thorough the title abstractor is in researching the chain of title to your home, he or she cannot find what are called hidden defects. These include forgeries, frauds, false representation, lost wills, mistakes in descriptions, undisclosed heirs, clerical errors, illegal trusts, adverse possession, and undisclosed or missing heirs.

These kinds of defects would not appear in court records. Worse, they can cause problems! Imagine living in your new home for five years and having a woman knock on your door, saying that she legally owns your home because her ex-husband forged her name on the deed. What would you do?

Title insurance from Lilly Title & Settlement protects you from these kinds of common legal problems. Your one-time investment, which equates to about the cost of your annual car insurance premium, spares you thousands of dollars in legal defense should a challenge ever arise to your property title.

At this point, you might be thinking, “But I’m already paying for lender’s title insurance? Are you saying I need MORE title insurance?”

Yes, we are. The lender’s title insurance protects the bank’s investment. It does nothing to help you should a legal challenge arise to your property. Lender’s title insurance protects the lender. Period.

To fully protect your investment, you have to look out for YOU! Homeowner’s title insurance does that.

So how does it work? Once the contract is signed, Lilly receives a title request from your lender. That’s when we go to work. If any known title issues arise, we immediately work to get them resolved. For example, pay offs and real estate taxes.

Then both your mortgage lender and Lilly Title review fees to make sure they are accurate. Once that is completed, your lender will send you what is called a Closing Disclosure three days before closing. You’ll sign them and send them back to your lender.


At closing, all legal documents are once again reviewed, then signed. After closing, Lilly sends the signed documents to your lender for funding approval. Then we record the transaction at the courthouse and disburse fund.

Congratulations! You are now a proud homeowner.

If there is anything we here at Lilly Title & Settlement want to stress, it’s this: When you’re making the biggest material investment of your life, do you really want to risk losing it all for a few hundred dollars?

Talk to us about our homeowner’s title insurance. It now covers more potential common legal problems than ever before. You won’t find a better policy or better people to handle your most valuable material assessment. You can bank on that!