New Century Title Ensures You Get What You Pay for in Real Estate

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Anyone who's ever made a major purchase like a car or a house knows the anxiety of spending a lot of money on something that may end up failing to meet your expectations after the deal is done. This feeling is especially common if what you are buying is not brand new, as is often the case with the aforementioned vehicle or property. Fortunately, in real estate, there are companies who provide what is called "title insurance." Title insurance involves providing an accurate description of a given property and is issued to buyers to give them the confidence that they're actually getting what they think they're getting. If a parcel of property ends up being different than it is described in the insurance document and the person who bought the title insurance suffers a loss as a result of the property being misrepresented, the insurer reimburses the insured for the loss. A major part of New Century Title's business revolves around providing title insurance to real estate companies in California. In addition, the company handles escrows, which involves acting as an independent third party responsible for the transference of money, deeds, and property between parties.

What is now known as New Century Title, at 4780 Chabot Drive here in Hacienda, was formerly called Northwestern Title Company before being purchased by an Arizona firm called Capital Title Group, which remains the parent holding company of New Century. New Century Title has 12 offices in northern California, where it is licensed to conduct business in Sonoma, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Sacramento counties. "We've got most of the Bay Area covered," says Darrell Harrison, New Century's vice president for northern California operations. "Now, we'll start getting into Solano and San Joaquin counties. We do everything on a county-by-county basis because property records are maintained within each county for its tax assessor." The company also has 12 offices in southern California, where it is licensed to conduct business in San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties. In all, New Century has just about doubled in size over the last three years.

The Pleasanton office of New Century Title at Hacienda currently has 14 employees and serves as the company's Northern California corporate headquarters. It was chosen primarily for the convenience of its proximity to the 580/680 corridor. "With offices in neighboring counties, we need to cover a large area" Harrison says. "We messenger materials from here to all those other counties on a regular basis."

In the area of title insurance, New Century's primary clientele includes real estate agents and direct lenders. However, in providing an insured legal description of a given property, you can certainly say that the company serves the general public by guaranteeing that its assessment of the property is correct. "You want to be sure you're not buying swamp land in Florida," Harrison says. Unless, of course, that's what you and the buyer agreed on.

Photo: With the current boom in mortgage refinancing, the Hacienda office of New Century Title is a constant source of activity.

Also in this issue...