Within emerging markets this insurance should be a “must have”.

Wade: The crazy thing about the title industry is that they don’t track the data everybody REALLY wants.

You won’t find any reliable source to answer that question. No one tracks it.

You won’t find any source – even ALTA – who can tell you how much consumers pay for title insurance. No one tracks it.

A consumer can’t even make a claim to a title company without producing a copy of the policy or proof that they purchased one, why? Because no title company tracks the names of their insured.

Regulators who want information like this meet brick walls. Underwriters shrug their shoulders and say that they’ll have to manually gather the info – which takes forever.

So, getting back to your original question, we don’t know how many or what percentage of people buy owner coverage. In my office, it’s almost 100%. I think I have had two people since 1991 opt out.

In PA we have a simultaneous issue regulated premium. We issue both loan and owner policies based on a premium charged to the consumer figured from the higher of loan amount or sale price. To opt out a consumer has to sign a strongly worded waiver that makes it clear that they are wholly unprotected. Our regulators do not want consumers to take any false comfort that a loan policy does anything for them.