Title insurance continues to be a mysterious part of the homebuying process. Many potential homeowners, or those looking to refinance, don’t realize that they are permitted, but not encouraged, to shop for title policies on their own.

The Government Accountability Office analyzed this issue in its report last year on the title insurance industry. The GAO concluded consumers find it difficult to comparison shop for title insurance because it is an unfamiliar and small part of a larger transaction that most consumers do not want to disrupt or delay for comparatively small potential savings.

“In addition, because consumers generally do not pick their title agent or insurer, title agents do not market to them but to the real estate and mortgage professionals who generally make the decision,” the report said.

As an experiment to gauge the ease of shopping for title insurance at the consumer level, The Title Report employed a mystery shopper in the summer of 2007 to shop for title insurance in four mid-size to large U.S. cities.

• Austin, Texas
• Charlotte, N.C.
• Orlando, Fla.
• Philadelphia, Pa.

The goal of the shopper was to ascertain how responsive and clear agents were when discussing their products and services with an unknown caller in another state.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how title agencies fare when it comes to providing customer service to consumer as we provide analysis of our mystery shopping report by identifying several points for discussion and future training opportunities, including customer service, education and quality control.

Available FREE when you subscribe to The Title Report.