Real Estate Agent Peter Fugiel's 2008 market outlook report for the Chicago area sets out a pretty thorough analysis of the local market conditions. On the whole, a pretty positive assessment and an interesting read. American real estate is still right up there with other high demand world markets. American real estate, like oil, scarce commodities, fine art, and an American college education, are all still in wide demand. The full report is available on my web site.
Title insurance is a critically important part of any real estate transaction; or at least it should be. The title company guaranties the "quality" of an owners interest in the property - that there aren't any (unknown) liens or defects. No buyer that I work for will purchase a property without it. Title insurance is only as good as the insurer. We want to know that the insurance company, like the Rock of Gibraltar , will always be there. We want to sleep easy at night, knowing that the client is protected. That said, it was a bit distressing to see that PLM Title Company shut its doors, without any forewarning last week. Worse still, this morning's news is that there is a criminal investigation underway - and that we do not yet know why. Old timers like me shudder with memories of the great Intercounty Title debacle five years ago. Here's to hoping that this one is nothing like that one. Set aside the problems involved trying to make a claim against a defun...
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