title insurance

[Robert D.]

I buy properties on judicial sale and sell them in as-is condition to investors/rehabbers . I don’t know conditions of properties. I disclose that in the state required disclosure form. I hold the property couple of weeks maybe a month before I sell them. I operate mostly in Chicago area. My attorney advised me not to provide affidavit of title. He says that affidavit of title opens up a seller to liability and that affidavit of title is done only in Chicago area anyways. I close at the title company and provide title insurance. My problem is that I don’t want to give buyer’s attorney any grounds to dissuade the buyer from pursuing the deal due to “lack of affidavit of title”. If I was a buyer and seller did not want to provide the affidavit of title ..I would think that the seller is not sure about his ownership of the property.  I always record the deed before I transfer a property, all is legit. Judicial sale wipes out most of the junior liens anyways ..where is a problem then ? Would somebody give me an example of a situation where I could get in trouble providing “affidavit of title” ? Is not the title insurance designed to take care of all the title related problems that might arise to a new buyer after the property is sold ? My attorney said no : the title company will come back to me if there is a problem. So I pay for an insurance and if there is a problem they come back to me ? it does not make any sense.

I think that he does not want me to provide affidavit of title because this is he who prepares the deed, does title search, etc. he is a title agent (title agents get paid by title company at closing, not title agents attorneys do not get any kickbacks from the title company). I think here is the real problem. I buy and sell properties that have higher risk of title problems due to the judicial sale and since he is doing all the legal work he wants to limit his exposure …

what about REO sale? do bank provide affidavit of title. it's been a while since I bought REO property so I dont remember