Over 400 years ago, William Shakespeare penned the question, “What’s in a Name?” (from Romeo & Juliet). The line has even more meaning today when we are increasingly searching online for everything we need, and we begin with … what to call it … how to search for it on Google. Sometimes this is obvious, and sometimes, not so much.

Agency Title was founded in Louisville in 1995 (three years before Google!), to establish ourselves as an organization of service and action (“agency”) providing real estate title agency services. At that time, you would find us in the Yellow Pages for Title Services! Twenty-seven years later (and now four offices later), we find that we did well to be straight-forward and well-named. People can find us online by searching for the local generic terms, Louisville Title Agency, Bardstown Title Agency, or Title Agencies Louisville, or certainly just Agency Title, of course.

However … it’s not always that straight-forward, if you don’t know what you need. If someone is new to buying and selling a home, they may know what they need, but don’t know what to call it. Realtors and brokers know the scope of title services very well, so they know that a title agency is where you close a real estate transaction. Their clients (home buyers and sellers) simply show up at the title agency as scheduled (by the realtor, usually) to complete the transaction, sign all the papers, and celebrate. But what about people selling their own home, or needing to assume a title from someone else, or facing a foreclosure situation and looking into “short sale” options? Why not just search for a “real estate attorney”? Most of the services offered by a title agency aren’t called “title” services, so we thought it might be helpful to review.

What Does a Title Agency Do? (What’s a Title? What’s a Deed? What’s the Difference?)

To the average home buyer and seller (who don’t buy and sell homes that often), you work with a realtor to find a buyer or seller, and on closing day, you all go to the title agency for the official closing to transfer the ownership and settle all money owed and due. The buyer receives the deed as documentation that they are the official new owner of the home. So, why is everybody at a title agency?

In short, the “title” is the right to sell or transfer a property, and the “deed” is the document stating ownership. Ownership doesn’t always mean you have title. A lot of things can go wrong in the transfer of property ownership … possibly due to a mistake a long time ago. It’s possible that the current owner might have the deed to the property, but not the right (the title) to sell it, for example if the former owners didn’t really have the right to sell it because someone else previously had a rightful claim to the property. There is a title attorney at the closing table, who (prior to the closing) should have reviewed all past transactions and transfers of deeds on the property (i.e., with a “title search”), to ensure that the seller has the right (the title) to sell the property, and so that the buyer then in-turn has the right to sell or transfer it.

Not all title attorneys handle all transfers of property with all of the diligence they should. People make mistakes. Some claims to the property (such as bank’s lien) can slip through the cracks. If a seller in the past really didn’t have the right to sell the property, and the deed transferred anyway, it can create a problem decades later, after the property has changed ownership a few times, and someone else (i.e. the bank) says they have legitimate claim to the property. That matter has to be settled before the property can be transferred, now that the dispute over title is discovered.

So, what does the title agency (a.k.a., the title attorney, the real estate closing attorney) do? They provide assurance that when you leave the closing with the deed to your new home, it’s actually, really, legally, fully, your home … and you have the right to sell it in the future. In other words, they did their work before everybody arrived at the closing table … which is why you need to know you are working with an experienced title agency. It’s also why you need to think about … title insurance.

Other Than Managing Closings, What Else Does the Title Agency Do?

A title agency’s services all relate to the critical nature of what title is: the right to sell or transfer property. Other than at the time of a closing, there are other situations in real estate transactions when the work of a title attorney is needed. In many situations, such as a Short Sale and For Sale by Owner, the transaction feels intense, the emotions can run high, and the assurance of highly experienced (and calm) title work is the difference between relief and catastrophe. Take a look at the title-related services offered by Agency Title for more than 25 years.

• ,Title Insurance and Title Search




• ,Short Sales




• ,Re-Financing




• ,Virtual Closings, or Mobile Closings




• ,For Sale by Owner




• ,Assumptions

What’s in a name? Agency Title is well named as a Louisville Title Agency, but as you learn in this blog, all “title agencies” aren’t equally reliable for assurance in title services. If they were, we wouldn’t need title insurance! As the buyer or seller of a home, what’s in the name isn’t as important as what’s behind the name … the decades of experience, qualifications, reputation and dedication to service.

In the Louisville area, and now in Bardstown, ,Contact Agency Title for All of Your Real Estate Title Service Needs, With 25+ Years of Reliability.