What is the difference between a title search and a title commitment?

The search product is a set of runs and copies: the chain of title with the recorded instruments, the judgment and lien runs against each named party, bankruptcy and federal tax lien searches, patriot searches, tax searches and the municipal departmentals. It states what was found, not what will be insured.

The commitment converts that into an offer. Schedule A recites the effective date, the policy amount, the estate insured, the proposed insured and the legal description. Schedule B-I lists what has to happen first. Schedule B-II lists what stays as an exception once the policy issues.

Attorneys read the commitment; the raw runs come out when a specific item needs chasing. A judgment hit that names a party correctly, a break in the chain, or a description that does not match the deed all send you back to the underlying documents.

Schedule B-II deserves as much attention as B-I. Easements, covenants and restrictions, party wall agreements, and the standard survey and tenancy exceptions will bind the buyer after closing. Removing an exception is a request made before the policy issues, not a correction made afterward.

The commitment is dated. Continuation searches run down the chain to the moment of recording, which is how a lien filed between the effective date and the closing gets caught. Confirm the rundown happened before funds move. A commitment that is several months old on an adjourned closing should be updated rather than relied on as issued.