What owner's and lender's title policies cost — and what they actually protect
| Policy | Protects | Coverage amount | Required? |
|---|
| Price vs. entered | Home price | Owner's policy | Lender's policy | Total premium |
|---|
Title insurance is the closing line-item everyone squints at: several hundred to a few thousand dollars for insurance against… what, exactly? Against the discovery that the person who sold you the house couldn't fully sell it — forged deeds in the chain, missing heirs with claims, unpaid contractor liens, boundary and easement surprises, clerical errors in county records. This estimator prices both policies for your purchase, explains the simultaneous-issue discount, and gives you the honest case for the optional one.
| Lender's policy | Owner's policy | |
|---|---|---|
| Protects | The bank's loan balance | Your down payment and all your equity |
| Amount | Loan amount, declining as you pay down | Purchase price, for as long as you or heirs own it |
| Required | By every lender, always | Optional in most states |
| Key fact | Protects them, paid by you | The only one that protects YOU |
The counterintuitive part trips everyone: the mandatory policy does nothing for you. If a title defect surfaces, the lender's policy makes the bank whole — your equity is only covered if you bought the owner's policy.
Claims are rare — that's why one-time premiums work — but they're catastrophic when they land, and legal defense alone can run six figures. The owner's policy pays both the loss and the lawyers.
For nearly everyone, yes: ~0.4% of the price, once, to insure your entire equity forever against risks you cannot search away (forgery and fraud leave no trace in the records). Real-estate attorneys overwhelmingly buy it on their own homes — the most honest signal available.
The search finds what's recorded and legible. It cannot find forged signatures, impersonated sellers, un-probated heirs, filing errors, or liens recorded days after the search. Insurance covers exactly the gap the search can't close.
Convention (and negotiation): loan costs are borrower costs. In some states/customs the seller pays for the owner's policy instead — who-pays-what is regional and negotiable in the contract.
In regulated states (TX, FL, NM…) rates are fixed but ancillary fees aren't; elsewhere both vary by company. The settlement/escrow fees bundled with title are shoppable almost everywhere — get two quotes.
The lender requires a NEW lender's policy on each refinance (reissue discounts usually apply). Your owner's policy from the purchase continues untouched — never buy a new owner's policy on a refi.
An upgraded policy (~10–20% more) adding post-closing risks: encroachments built later, forged deeds recorded after closing, zoning violations, and automatic inflation of coverage. Worth pricing, especially for newer subdivisions.
Yes — everything computes locally in your browser.
One question at closing — "is this the simultaneous-issue rate, and does the seller's policy qualify me for a reissue discount?" — plus one signature on the owner's policy, and title risk becomes something you never think about again. That's the whole product, and it's a good one.