Security 1st Title is locally owned and committed to earning your business by providing professional service. Our reputation has been built by our experience, integrity, and commitment to outstanding customer service. Our experienced staff can assist you with all of your title insurance and closing needs. We are proud to serve the following counties: Allen, Bourbon, Butler, Cowley, Crawford, Dickinson, Ellsworth, Greenwood, Harper, Johnson, Kingman, Miami, Montgomery, Reno, Russell, Sedgwick, Shawnee, Sumner and Woodman County markets. We also have great relationships with title and closing companies in other parts of the state. That gives us the ability to be your one-call provider of Title Insurance and Closing Services.

Whether your transaction is Residential, Commercial, New Development, Resale, Refinance, 2nd Mortgage, Foreclosure, REO, or HUD, we have developed a unique team of closing and title personnel that go the extra mile to be sure your transaction is completed to your satisfaction.

Our people make the difference.

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What is Title Insurance?

Most kinds of insurance are self-explanatory. Fire insurance protects against losses from fire. Collision insurance guards against the cost of a crunched car. Theft insurance - well, you get the point.

But title insurance? What does it mean to insure your title to real estate? And what are the risks that make title insurance important?

Security 1st Title Company has been asked these questions before. Here are the answers.

A Word About Real Estate

Real estate has always been considered man's most valuable possession. It is so basic a form of wealth that many special laws have been enacted to protect ownership of land and the buildings which stand on the land.
You should realize whenever you buy property that the owner who is selling it to you has extremely strong rights as do his family and heirs. Also, there may be others - in addition to the owner - who have "rights" in the property you are going to buy. These may be governmental bodies, contractors, or individuals who have perfectly proper unpaid claims against the property.

Anyone who has such a claim is, in a sense, a part-owner. The property may be sold - to you - without the party who has a claim knowing about the sale. And you may know nothing about such a claim at the time you buy. It doesn't matter. Such claims may remain attached to the real estate you have purchased.

Will You Get a Clear Title?

It is of the greatest importance that you do. But this means that you must be informed about any of these claims against your land, so that you can make certain they are cleared up before you buy. And it means that you must be protected against any undiscovered claims that may arise in the future to threaten your property. Title insurance provides this twofold protection.

How Do You Learn What Claims There Are Against the Property?

By a search of the public records. This is the first step we take in order to insure your title. We keep track of every entry on all of these public records which might affect the title to every parcel of land.

Some of the things a title search uncovers are any unpaid taxes or mortgages, judgments against previous owners, easements and many other court actions or recorded documents which can affect title to real estate.

We find and report such defects in the title to the real estate you wish to buy, so that these matters can be corrected and cleared up. It is the first benefit you receive when title insurance is ordered.

What if There is a Defect in the Title Which Doesn't Show up in the Public Records?

This can happen. We call them "hidden risks" - the undiscovered claims which may arise long after you have bought your home. Protection against loss from claims on real estate which cannot be discovered by examination of the public records is the second part of the twofold benefit which title insurance provides.

The title to the home which you have paid for - and to which you have received a deed - could be seriously threatened or completely lost by such circumstances as forgery, confusion due to similar names, error in the records - to cite just a few hazards.

How Does a Title Insurance Policy Protect Against All These Dangers?

If a claim is made against your title as insured, Security 1st Title protects you by -

1.  Defending your title, in court if necessary, completely at our expense.

2.  Bearing the cost of settling the claim if it proves valid, in order to perfect your title and keep you in possession of your property.

By Now, You Know the Answer to Our Question - What is Title Insurance?

It is assurance that every possible cloud on the title to the land you are buying - which can be discovered from the public records - has been called to your attention so that such defects can be corrected before you buy. And - it is insurance that, if any undisclosed claim covered by your policy arises out of the past to threaten your ownership of real estate, it will be disposed of, or you will be reimbursed, exactly as your title insurance policy provides.

Only One Premium

Unlike other forms of insurance, the original premium is your only cost as long as you or your heirs own the property. There are no annual payments to keep your Owners Title Insurance Policy in force.