We Took Them In The Middle of the Night

It’s Comforting To Know You Still Have Coverage

The morning sun felt busy.  Air traffic control (ATC) suddenly shattered the nights serenity with a string of commands spawned from the numerous early morning Los Angeles arrivals and departures. The radio chatter drummed against my ear, razor-sharp, like the sound of a nervous dog barking over a frozen pond.

I like to imagine the travelers going to exotic destinations . The reasons people travel are as vast as the places they go. Some go for work others to visit family or to find a new love, perhaps a few are just escaping the shattered rubble of a ruined beginning.

The passengers we carried this morning are VIP’s. Transplant doctors. We took them in the middle of the night from Los Angeles to another State where they would retrieve organs from a donor. And now we’re bringing them back with a heavy ice chest carefully packed; a human organ protected and preserved by ice. Someone in need is waiting in a sterile hospital room, tied down with IV needles and heart monitors, perhaps dreaming through a drowsy fog about what life will be like from now on.

Our passengers, or PAX, as we abbreviate them on load manifests, are simply sleeping. Exhausted from their nights work, rejuvenating their brains for the meticulous work ahead.

Descending from altitude we could clearly see our destination airport nearly 50 miles to the south. SoCal Approach continued to vector us along one of the familiar but not always convenient route segments that help them to track us on radar. I say not always convenient because the segmented routes don’t always represent the shortest distance. Sometimes they take us miles out of our way. But these PAX take priority. Their time is precious. A heartbeat can mean the difference between life-extended or a life-squelched. So we declared the airport in-sight and request a visual approach from SoCal Approach.

Looking toward our destination I could see the millions of homes sprawled out across Los Angeles like tiny Monopoly pieces on a playing board. And I briefly thought about those who do uninsured deed transfers on some of those million dollar homes.

Once safely on the ground a waiting helicopter whisks away our VIP’s and speeds them over the morning rush hour traffic to their awaiting hospital. My work here is finished so I pour a cup of coffee and prepare my head for a day of Real Estate and Title Insurance. And I reflect for a moment about the similarity’s and differences of that visual approach and an uninsured deed transfer.

How is a Visual Approach similar to an Uninsured Deed Transfer?

• When a pilot requests a visual approach some of the burden of looking out for other air traffic shifts from ATC to the flight crew.
• When a property owner records an uninsured deed they are relieving the title insurance company of risk and taking on that responsibility themselves.

How is a Visual Approach different from an Uninsured Deed Transfer?

• With a visual approach Air Traffic Control is still monitoring the flight on radar and they will still offer protection to the flight crew. The pilots, while accepting more of the responsibility aren’t left unprotected from other hazards.
• When a property owner records an uninsured deed they no longer have any protection from title issues and they accept full responsibility.

The reasons to request a visual approach are many. You’re still going to have radar coverage but you’ll save valuable time, fuel and money. But why would anyone record an uninsured deed transfer?

In my work day I run across a handful of uninsured deed transfers. Most are executed by ill-informed homeowners who believe they can escape debt by transferring their property to someone else, like a family member or friend. While you might delay a foreclosure by clouding the title you can’t prevent it by clouding the title. You can’t run and hide forever.

Not everyone is trying to cheat the system. Many people simply don’t know that when you record a new deed on property you’ll need to talk to your title insurance company. The title insurance company will either issue you a new policy or an endorsement covering your transfer, depending on the circumstances.

In the air carrier business flight crews won’t put their PAX in harm’s way by taking risky short cuts.  Likewise, homeowners shouldn’t risk their largest investment by taking an unnecessary risk.

Two Quick Facts About Title Insurance

• Title insurance is cheap compared to most other types of insurance.
• Title insurance is paid for once and is good for as long as you or your heirs own the property. There is no monthly or annual payments like car insurance or health insurance.

What Is Title Insurance?

Finally, many don’t know what Title Insurance is. Here’s the short answer from a Chicago Title website:  Title Insurance is a unique form of insurance. It provides coverage for future claims or future losses due to title defects which are created by some past event. These risks are far less obvious than those protected against by automobile insurance, but can be just as devastating. For more info please click on the “What Is Title Insurance” link above.

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Note:  I’m a Slash Careerist. Besides being a Title Company Account Executive I’m also a Charter Pilot.  Comments made here are my own and do not necessarily belong to my employers; Chicago Title & Escrow or Chrysler Aviation.

Chicago Title has been in business for more than 160 years. It’s a company you can trust.

For more information about Title Insurance contact me directly at:
Ric Lippincott or leave a comment below