[ 2015 ] Received call from individual wanting to buy my TS

Just in case anyone was wondering. Title insurance in the state of florida is governed by Law (the rates are).

According to the last time I looked, a policy on $5k would be $100.00.

As an aside, No major lender would ever make a loan on a TS.

If you want to play ball with these people I would do the following:

1. Ask for a copy of a signed offer letter.
2. Insist that any and all fees be taken from the proceeds of the sale like a normal real estate transaction. There is no reason the title company can not use part of the $4800 to cover those fees (similar to how it works when you sell a home).

I am wondering why anyone would want to buy title insurance on a timeshare anyway. I have title insurance for my home, of course, and the main benefits of it are that the title insurance company researches the deed history and can confirm that your seller, in fact owns the property (subject to whatever covenants and restrictions are attached to the property), and they insure that, and then if anyone else comes along later and says something like "hey, I am the real owner of that house, and your seller had no right to sell it to you," then the title insurance company perhaps will defend a lawsuit against me concerning ownership of the property. The title insurance policy cost me $1683 when I bought the house.

Something along the lines of $900 or more for a title insurance policy for a timeshare seems a little (to put it mildly) outrageous. Something smells. If you really want title insurance for a timeshare, you can call a reputable title insurance company yourself and find out how much it would cost. I really don't know how much it would cost, but it would be interesting to find out. Does anyone here really know?

Which brings me back to my original question: why would anyone want title insurance for a timeshare? The reasons would all be the same as buying title insurance for a house, of course, but what it boils down to is whether it is worth the additional cost overall. If it is the unit that I originally bought from the developer, even though it basically worth nothing financially now, I might (might) consider it as protection for that huge purchase. I cannot think of a good reason for obtaining title insurance for a timeshare that I paid, say, $250 for. Maybe someone else can. If someone comes along and says "hey, that is my timeshare and your seller had no right to sell it to you," I might just say "OK, you can have it." Then I probably would buy another identical one for $250 or less.

Saintsfanfl said:

From a real estate transaction stand point, and not just timeshares, this is not true in Florida. In Florida it is fairly standard for the seller to pay for the buyers title insurance policy.

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So, are you saying that in Florida it is standard for a seller to put real funds of their own into the escrow account to pay for the title policy?

Or is the policy paid out of escrow, and in the settlement statement it's listed as a credit to the seller instead of a debit to the buyer?


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Fifteen years ago, when I first got involved with TUG, by far the most common timeshare scams were seller funded "appraisals" and "title insurance" premiums, that were paid into so-called escrow accounts.

Does Florida have licensing and bonding requirement for escrow companies? If so, have you verified that they are in compliance?

*Please note - the original post is from Jan. of 2015, and was brought out of mothballs by a new guest.

If I breached protocol here by bringing this out of mothballs, please accept my apologies.

Yes, I am new to this forum, and the general topic of title insurance for timeshares (part of the original, older post here) caught my attention. Maybe I could have started a new thread for this. I was (and remain) interested in whether anyone really gets title insurance for timeshares (and if they have done so, how much it really cost).

No one buys title insurance for deeds less than $500. I would think no one really does for ones less than $5000. I know some developers require it or at least try to make it seem mandatory but if this were really the first time a deed was transferred I don't think likely their would be any title problems and if so I would probably expect the dealer to fix it.

It's when you are buying a $5000-$20,000 resale timeshare and you don't feel comfortable with the transfer chain it would probably be worth investing in some title insurance.

Hi Ace - it's fine, but just so you know, when you use the search function, it can go back as far as 2005, so it's a good idea to look at the date of the posts you pull up, before you respond.

I would say that it is better to start a new thread, rather than pulling up an old thread, unless it has current posts.

There are a few top of the line timeshares that resale for more than $30K+ - in those situations, it may appropriate to buy title insurance - every case is different.