About Kelsey Title Agency

Welcome to Kelsey Title Agency where you’ll experience a full range of professional title services from one of the finest title insurance agencies in Marion, Lake, and Sumter Counties.

Kelsey Title Agency was founded to provide the highest quality title insurance service with old fashioned client care. In fact, we have some of the most knowledgeable staff in the industry to guide and assist you at a moment’s notice.

We are recognized for providing exceptional service and timely client support.

Owner, Missi Kelsey, has decades of experience in title insurance, real estate transactions, banking, and legal applications. We take pride in our desire to provide our clients with an unparalleled level of satisfaction. We partner with our clients to create a personal, rewarding, and caring relationship while at the same time we keep you informed of changing practices and issues in the industry.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide our customers with exceptional title services while insuring ownership of their most important asset – their home.

Company Goal

Our company’s goal is to provide customer-centered title and closing services utilizing our knowledge, experience, and professionalism.

How Title Insurance Was Started

From colonial days until nearly the American Centennial, real property in the United States was bought and sold without any form of guarantee or insurance.

Many early land transactions in American history were handled by men called conveyancers. These conveyancers were not lawyers but were recognized locally as authorities on matters of real estate.

The practice of insuring title began after a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling in 1868. The case, Watson v. Muirhead, 57 Pa. 161, settled the matter of ownership over a property purchased after an “abstract of title,” or title records search, was conducted and a lien was discovered.

Watson v. Muirhead

57 Pa. 161

1868 Pennsylvania Supreme Court case

During his research, the transaction conveyancer found a lien on the title, which he turned over to an attorney for legal opinion. The attorney advised that the judgment was not a valid lien. So, the conveyancer and purchaser completed the transaction.

Not long afterward, the property was sold at a Sheriff’s sale in order to pay off the lien, which was in fact lawful.

The court ruled that the lien, and the Sheriff’s sale, was indeed lawful, and the conveyancer was not held liable because the legal standard was “negligence,” or failure to act with due care. Since he had relied upon an attorney’s opinion that the lien was invalid, the conveyancer had use due care- even if he was incorrect.

BIRTH OF TITLE INSURANCE

Because of the judgment, and subsequent loss to the purchaser, a group of Philadelphia conveyancers met to establish a way to protect the innocent buyers of real property. In 1876, this group formed the first title insurance company. Their mission: to protect “the purchasers of real estate and mortgages against losses from defective title, liens and encumbrances,” and added, “through these facilities, transfer of real estate and real estate securities can be made more speedily and with greater security than heretofore.”

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