Do you really need home title lock insurance?

You've seen the commercials and heard the radio ads with high-paid spokespeople, but like everything else in life sometimes it's hard to cut through all the noise to figure out what's really fact, or fiction.

The first time I saw a commercial for home title lock, I was super skeptical. To be perfectly frank, it seemed like the same type of shady products designed take advantage of old people that didn't know any better.

Someone is going to STEAL my home deed? How is that even possible? It didn't make sense to me at first, so I decided to do some research and find out for myself and start out with this question...

Does home title theft actually happen?

So the first question - does home title theft actually happen, and if so, how much?

Well, I found the answer, and to be honest it shocked me:

Property theft is up 6,000% since 2016

According to the FBI, this is generally how it works, straight from the FBI archives (in 2008 they called it "house stealing").

1. The con artists start by picking out a house to steal—say, YOURS.
2. Next, they assume your identity—getting a hold of your name and personal information (easy enough to do off the Internet) and using that to create fake IDs, social security cards, etc.
3. Then, they go to an office supply store and purchase forms that transfer property.
4. After forging your signature and using the fake IDs, they file these deeds with the proper authorities, and lo and behold, your house is now THEIRS.

To be honest I was shocked an appalled that not only is "house stealing" a thing, but the FBI has been well aware of it since 2008!

Referencing another report, in 2010 the FBI reported that an estimated $3.2 billion in losses from home title fraud in that fiscal year alone¹ - those are annual losses that happen each year!

So yes, it's definitely happening.

Why is home title theft underreported?

According to the FBI, a large portion of the mortgage industry isn't required to participate in mandatory fraud reporting². For most crimes, there's agencies that log each since crime in a detailed report that's then routed to local and national law enforcement agencies for it to be compiled and reported on - but for mortgage and title fraud, that doesn't exist.

The FBI details this further:

In addition, as initial mortgage products are repackaged and sold on secondary markets, the sale of the mortgages in many cases conceal or distort the fraud, causing it not to be reported. Therefore, the true level of mortgage fraud is largely unknown.

However, they continue to detail these instances of "suspicious activity reports" (dubbed "SARs"):

For example in 2005 were over 35,000 suspicious activity reports on mortgages and home titles - in 2007 there were projected to be over 60,000.

In short, this means that there was a 95% increase in home title fraud in just 24 months, between the periods of 2005 to 2007.

Who's the most at risk for home title fraud?

Anyone with a home and equity is at risk of home title fraud, however people with a rental property, vacation home or vacant property are especially at risk.

The FBI writes:

"Con artists look for a vacant house—say, a vacation home or rental property—and do a little research to find out who owns it. Then, they steal the owner’s identity, go through the same process of transferring the deed, put the empty house on the market, and pocket the profits.
…Or, the fraudsters steal a house a family is still living in… find a buyer (someone, say, who is satisfied with a few online photos)…and sell the house without the family even knowing. In fact, the rightful owners continue right on paying the mortgage for a house they no longer own.³"

So, what's the best title locking software?

The Winner: HomeLock by DomiDocs

For those unfamiliar with home title lock software, there's basically three choices: Title Lock, Lifelock and then HomeLock by DomiDocs.

For me, HomeLock by DomiDocs takes the #1 spot for a few key reasons, here's why I chose them

#1 - Most Robust Monitoring

Most home title lock software monitor about 30 data point, but HomeLock monitors over 200+.

It's by far the most thorough home title monitoring solution, watching everything and scanning daily including:

• Property Theft- Title, Deed Fraud & Forgeries
• Equity Theft- Fraudulent Loans & Lines of Credit
• Rental Theft- Unknown Rental & Revenue Theft
• Clouded Title- Fraudulent Claims & Encumbrances
• Lien Filings- 80+ Different Types of Property Liens
• Missed Payments - Mortgage, Taxes, Lease, POA/HOA
• Data Errors - County, State, Federal & Corporate Databases

#2 - NOT Just Property Fraud Protection, it's full Home Title Monitoring

This is very nuanced, but there is a difference. The other "big two" home title monitoring services are just that - they monitor basic things and tell you when something has gone wrong, but my then it's usually too late and serious problems have started already.

HomeLock by DomiDocs watches many more data points to catch issues BEFORE they happen, and if they do happen, they provide support to resolve them.

#3 - U.S. Based Support and Service Team

If you ever actually have to use your home title protection, you're going to be really happy about this one: HomeLock by DomiDocs is 100% based in the USA, and all their call center and support agents are available during U.S. business hours - I actually called them to test this out to make sure during my review and it checked out (they're based in Florida!).

#4 - If Something Happens, They Help Resolve It

If an Alert occurs after enrollment, you can immediately contact the DomiDocs protection team and they will help by:

• Data correction services are included with membership
• $25,000 legal services included for fraud defense
• $1,000,000 cyber insurance policy coverage included

Pretty good deal for the price, which brings me to my last point:

#5 - It Starts at Only $17.99/month

They just released their new monthly subscription option - and for me it's a no brainer. All this for $17.99/month? That's less than I'll spend this week at Starbucks.