A title commitment is the insurer’s offer to issue a policy on stated terms. It is organised so that the risk sits in the schedules rather than the cover page.
Schedule A identifies the proposed insured, the amount, the estate being insured, the vested owner, and the legal description. Errors here — the wrong estate, a description that does not match the survey — are the ones that cause closings to be undone.
Schedule B-I, requirements. What must be done before the policy issues: payoffs and discharges, corrective deeds, entity authority documents, probate matters, tax payments. These are the closing checklist.
Schedule B-II, exceptions. What the policy will not cover. Standard exceptions for survey matters, rights of parties in possession, mechanics liens and unrecorded easements can often be deleted with a current survey, an owner’s affidavit, and an additional premium. Specific exceptions — recorded easements, restrictive covenants, leases, mineral reservations — require reading the underlying documents, not just the recording references.
Endorsements add coverage for zoning, access, contiguity, survey matters, usury and others. They are negotiated, priced, and frequently the difference between a policy that responds to the buyer’s actual concern and one that does not.
Timing. Order early, object within the contract’s period, and never treat the commitment as a formality delivered at closing.