Services
Title insurance services in North Carolina
Owner's and lender's policies for NC purchases and refinances, with the attorney's role and ours spelled out.
What Ironwood issues
Ironwood issues title insurance on North Carolina residential real estate: owner's policies that protect buyers, lender's policies that protect mortgage lenders, and the commitments and endorsements that go with them. The title search, opinion and closing are performed by your North Carolina closing attorney.
Title insurance is a contract that protects the insured against loss from covered defects in title that existed before the policy date, and it pays to defend covered claims. NC Department of Insurance, Title Insurance Because NC requires an independent attorney's title opinion before a policy can be issued, our role starts when an attorney's office sends us an order and ends when the final policies are delivered after recording. N.C. Gen. Stat. 58-26-1
Policies and transaction types
Owner's title insurance
Protects the buyer's ownership for as long as they or their heirs own the property. Optional, paid once.
Read moreLender's title insurance
Protects the mortgage lender's lien. Most lenders require it on every loan.
Read moreHome purchase
Owner's and lender's policies issued together at the simultaneous issue rate.
Read moreRefinance
A new lender's policy for the new loan, with a reissue credit when a recent policy exists.
Read moreFor the professionals on the file
Closing attorneys and paralegals
How to order, what to send, and how revisions and final policies are handled.
Read moreReal estate agents
What to tell buyers about choosing a title agent, and what Ironwood needs from the file.
Read moreLenders and processors
Loan policy requirements, closing protection and how to reach us about a file.
Read moreWhat is and is not included
| Item | Who provides it | Where the price comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Title search and examination | Your closing attorney or their supervised staff | Attorney's fee schedule |
| Preliminary and final title opinion | Your closing attorney | Attorney's fee schedule |
| Commitment for title insurance | Ironwood, as First American's agent | Filed NC rate manual, PR-9 |
| Owner's and lender's policy premiums | Ironwood, as First American's agent | Filed NC rate manual, PR-2 to PR-5 |
| Endorsements to the policy | Ironwood, when requested and available | Filed NC rate manual, PR-10 and PR-11 |
| Closing, recording and disbursement | Your closing attorney | Attorney's fee schedule and county recording fees |
| Deed excise tax | Paid by the seller (transferor) to the Register of Deeds | N.C. Gen. Stat. 105-228.30 |
The rate manual states that its premiums do not include charges for title search, examination, closing or escrow services, which are additional. NCTIRB rate manual, effective Feb 1, 2026 The excise tax on deeds is $1 for each $500 of consideration or value, paid by the transferor. N.C. Gen. Stat. 105-228.30
How to start
Buyers and homeowners: tell your closing attorney you would like your title insurance issued through Ironwood Title Group, and if your attorney provides a title preference sheet, note it there. Attorneys: send the order to orders@ironwoodtitlegroup.com or use our order form. Everyone else: contact us with your question and we will point you to the right person on the file.
We work on properties located in North Carolina. We are not licensed in other states through this site, so if your property is elsewhere, your attorney or settlement agent will place the policy with a provider licensed there.
Endorsements, explained one at a time
An endorsement adds to or adjusts a policy for a specific risk. The North Carolina rate manual sets the charge for each one. These are the endorsements that come up most on residential files, with the filed charge from the manual effective February 1, 2026. NCTIRB rate manual, effective Feb 1, 2026
| Endorsement | What it addresses | Filed charge |
|---|---|---|
| ALTA 5 (planned unit development) | Covers loss from covenants and assessments in a planned community, such as a lien for unpaid HOA charges recorded before the policy date, subject to its terms. | $23.00 |
| ALTA 8.1 (environmental protection lien) | Gives the lender coverage for certain recorded environmental protection liens on residential property. | $23.00 |
| ALTA 9 series (restrictions, encroachments, minerals) | Covers listed loss from violations of covenants, certain encroachments and damage from mineral extraction, as written in the form. | $23.00 |
| ALTA 49 or 49.1 (forgery related) | Adds coverage relating to forged or fraudulent instruments, as written in the form. | 15% of the policy premium |
| Enhanced owner's coverage | A broader owner's form with added covered risks, available on qualifying one to four family residences. | Regular rate plus 20% |
Endorsement wording and availability depend on the policy form and the underwriter's requirements, and the charge in the table is the filed charge, not a promise that a particular endorsement fits a particular file. Lenders often name the endorsements they require in their closing instructions.
Commitments and policy delivery
A commitment is issued first. It names the proposed insured, the proposed amount, the requirements that must be met and the exceptions that will appear in the policy. After closing, when the attorney reports recording and payoff, the requirements fall away and the final policy issues with the remaining exceptions. The manual sets a $16.50 charge where a commitment is issued as a separate product. Owner's policies go to the owner; loan policies go to the lender or its servicer, usually through the closing attorney.
What we do not provide
We do not run closings, examine title as attorneys, prepare deeds, hold closing funds or give legal advice. Fees for those services are set by the attorney and are separate from the premium.
Transactions outside the usual pattern
Some residential files need extra steps: a sale by an estate, a transfer between family members, a loan to an LLC that owns a rental house, a new build with a construction loan, or a property where the legal description has changed after a recombination plat. Each of these can be insured, but the commitment will list additional requirements, and the attorney will usually need more time to satisfy them. Tell us about these facts on the order so the first commitment already reflects them. If a question goes beyond what our underwriting guidelines answer, we ask First American Title Insurance Company before we commit to coverage, rather than after.