A Value Proposition is the unique value a product or service provides to a customer. It describes the benefits the product delivers. It answers the question: Why is this worth the money?

1. Title insurance protects the interests of property owners and lenders against legitimate or false claims by previous owners or lien holders. It insures the investment, unlocking its potential as a financial asset for the owner.

2. At Las Américas Title, we access, assemble, analyze, and distribute title information, in addition to handling escrow and closing.

3. Title problems are discovered in more than one-third of residential real estate transactions. These “defects” must be resolved prior to closing. The most common problems are existing liens, unpaid mortgages, and recording errors of names, addresses or legal descriptions.

4. A homeowner’s title insurance policy protects the owner for as long as he or she has an interest in the property; and the premium is paid only once, at closing.

5. Title insurance is different from other forms of insurance because it insures against events that occurred before the policy is issued, as opposed to insuring against events in the future, as health, property or life insurance do. Title insurance is loss prevention insurance.

6. Las Américas Title relies on a thorough search of existing records to identify all possible defects in order to resolve them prior to issuing a policy. We perform intensive – and expensive work up-front to minimize claims. The better we do this, the lower our rate of claims.

7. A relatively small portion of a title insurance company’s revenue is paid-out in claims. That’s a result of the substantial time and expense invested in collecting and evaluating title records to ensure a title is clear prior to issuing a policy. It’s a labor intensive industry, particularly since only 15 percent of public records are computerized.

8. During the past 20 years, title insurance industry loss expenses (claims) have been about 6.4 percent of revenue. In the property and casualty (P&C) industry that figure is nearly 80 percent. Yet operating expenses in title insurance average about 92 percent, compared to only about 25 percent for P&C. That produces a profit margin of only about 1.6 percent in the title industry.

9. This low loss ratio is proof that title insurance is properly serving its function of assuring the accuracy of a real estate transaction. If claims rates were higher, consumers would be dissatisfied and faced with a higher frequency of unexpected and unwanted title problems. And, the cost of title insurance would naturally have to go up to cover those claims.