PA Tax Sale and title insurance

[Matt Lord]

Planning to look at a property in a town where I have other rentals. Long story short, the current owner recently purchased this property at a tax sale 2 months ago. Seller claims it’s a clean title, a new title search will be done regardless. My issue is that I don’t believe I’ll be able to get title insurance on this place for 12 months after the auction date. So I’ve got 10 months left. That’s 10 months of pretty high risk to me. Granted, this is a cheaper C class property, so it’s not like having 100,000 on the line. But still, I’d hate to purchase it, rehab it and potentially lose it due to the “Right of redemption” or some other law.

So I guess my question is this? Is it true I can’t get title insurance for 12 months?

How risky is not having it in a situation like this? How often are title insurance policies actually used anyway?