One of the things that likely makes you a smart small business owner is that you’re always thinking ahead.
Whether it revolves around the next great product or service, how to provide your customers with even better service, or knowing how to properly grow your business, your mind is always focused on being prepared for what comes next.
With that in mind, are you considering growing your business in the coming months or years? If so, will such growth involve moving yourself and your employees to a new location?
In such situations, knowing what you are getting yourself and your business into should always be on your mind, especially when it involves a change from the ordinary.
So, let’s say you have outgrown your current office space, meaning there is nowhere left to expand. As a result, you must find a new location for you and your team to efficiently operate out of. In such a scenario, do you have all the necessary time to not only oversee the search, but then get all the relevant details on the new locale you’re intending to move to?
While some business owners will be able to navigate such tasks, others will undoubtedly let some of the work fall into the laps of their most trusted staff.
So, what happens if that person and/or you are not familiar with title insurance? Is it something you can overlook?
If you missed the course on title insurance, know that coverage from a title agency protects the buyer from any claims, encumbrances, and liens held by the seller. Essentially, the buyer walks away with a clean title to the property.
As a business owner, such coverage is not something to overlook, especially given the fact that the premiums are much less expensive than the potential legal fees you could be faced with should there be a dispute over the property at purchase.
To set a timeline for you, once the i’s and t’s on a contract to buy office space are dotted and crossed, the attorney for the purchaser will contact the title insurance provider and “order” the title. The insurer checks all necessary property records to update the seller’s title. In many cases, the finalizing of the title will run about 14 days or so. In the event there is a claim or lien on the title, you (the buyer) could have to navigate legal waters in order to resolve the dispute.
There could be issues such as the city having a right to construct or revamp a portion of the property, or local, federal or state governments having a lien on the site due to back taxes etc.
Whatever the dispute may be, being without title insurance can cost you and your business a pretty penny. Without “clearing” the title, you could end up in a precarious legal and financial hole.
Given there are different title insurance options out there for the buyer (owners, lender’s and extended coverage to name a few), make it your business to be versed on the subject well before you get the keys to your new office space.
Photo credit: gwblawfirm.com
About the Author: With 23 years’ writing experience, Dave Thomas covers a variety of small business topics.