Hi Folks!

Mother Nature has finally blessed us with summery weather. This gets my body feeling healthy and my mood very positive. Therefore some of the events that, over the winter, would get me irritated now feel ok and normal. Even the HST doesn't bother me these days!

Despite that, I am confused, bordering on irritated, about a process that's happening in BC. That is - title insurance. My confusion stems from my lack of knowledge and the conflicting stories I've been hearing. My irritation stems from me having to purchase a title insurance policy on the mortgage on our condo 10 months after we got the mortgage.

As usual with relationships between people, what usually goes sideways is communication. Our stories don't match, our interpretations about the meaning of what was said don't match, our feelings get hurt, we raise a big fuss and ultimately (and stupidly) we feel we must call in the lawyers. The communication I've been hearing about title insurance definitely qualifies as sideways. 

Our mortgage is with ScotiaBank. It's a great mortgage and was put together in a timely fashion with semi-understandable terms and an excellent interest rate! Thank you ScotiaBank and CBM! When we closed on the property, no title insurance policy was purchased by us. This is a requirement (so I'm told) for all BC mortgages issued by ScotiaBank since 2009. So, in the normal course of events, this missing piece was discovered by ScotiaBank and is now fixed. Thanks to my lawyer for getting this done briskly, efficiently and at a nice cost.

My questions:

Why do we need title insurance in BC when we apparently have one of the best Land Title systems in the land?

Why didn't a policy for my mortgage get purchased at closing?

There are warnings about all the damage that can happen if one doesn't have title insurance. Are those situations likely in BC? Can someone put those into some kind of perspective so the layman/woman can understand the risks involved and make informed desicions?

What situations does title insurance cover and not cover (especially my policy and especially in simple language)?

Why are lawyers and title insurers in Canada fighting about who has the right to do what during real estate conveyancing?

As a real estate investor I want to be informed about what's going on and know what my rights and obligations are. Around title insurance I'm ignorant and suspicious. Anybody out there got answers for me?

And now, stepping off the soapbox:

Another complex process here in BC (and elsewhere) is foreclosures on property. As an RE investor, I see this as an opportunity to help the parties involved get to completion and make a little money. What's really happening behind the scenes during this long process? Who's involved, who's responsible for what, what are the timings, what are the risks?

This month the speaker at our Tuesday May 31 meeting, Neal Carmichael, will give us some insider knowledge to answer those questions. Neal is a realtor with Royal LePage and has been involved with many foreclosure transactions. I've asked him to illuminate the transaction so we can decide if we want to be involved. See the details below.

Too bad most of you missed the breakfast meeting on May 21. There was a lot of great education and networking, laughs and food consumed. These are fun events, come and check us out.

I provide the news items to the right as education. Please keep in mind the source of the news. When a bank gives an opinion on some trend they see in the RE market, those words are to further their profitability. When a real estate board gives reasons why sales are moving up/down/sideways, they are making "stuff" up. Just like stock market analysts. It makes the stats sound sexy. Of course that's all IMO.

See you all on the 31st!

Gord Knox