Clients need to be aware that First American Title is no longer providing title or closing services in Nicaragua. Certain real estate companies have not updated their websites to show this, which seems odd when they do keep updating their listings.
Nica Nuggets stated the following in their December 2014 newsletter:
No, as of December 18th, First American closed their Latin America/Caribbean operations. Therefore no title insurance from First American is available any longer in Nicaragua. All existing policies are still effective and if there is a title claim, the insured can make a claim directly to First American in California.As of today, there are no title insurance companies insuring titles to land in Nicaragua. Fidelity Title Insurance Company will insure titles in a few Latin American countries, especially if the transaction is a commercial type project, but not Nicaragua. Stewart Title Guaranty Company has also withdrawn from most Latin American countries, including Nicaragua.Today in order to protect yourself when you buy property in Nicaragua, you should try to use a real estate attorney who has malpractice insurance. There are some law firms that have that coverage today. My company, TCS, will also prepare a Pre-closing Report for $300 that will tell the buyer of any title issue and what should be corrected before closing the transaction. In order to provide this service, we require a title opinion together with title documents from a qualified real estate attorney. Many attorneys will prepare an opinion but will not delineate what should be done by the seller prior to closing. So this is what a TCS Report does for the buyer. The above article was written by Turalu Brady Murdock, Attorney* and Title Coordinator
