Do I Need Title Insurance When Flipping Commercial Property? 

09/28/2026 11:26 AM       Mark Goodman

If you are handy or have connections in the contractor community, you may have an advantage when it comes to identifying distressed commercial property that could be ideal for a fix and flip. Obviously you’ll want to be budget conscious if you plan to buy a fixer upper and flip it to a new buyer, but where can you safely cut costs? Can you forgo an owner’s title insurance policy since you’ll be conducting a survey and moving off the property in a short period of time? We explore the answer to that question below in our blog on title insurance for commercial flips. 

If you plan on having a commercial property for an extended period of time, title insurance is a no brainer. Unlike health insurance or automobile insurance that rely on monthly or semi-annual payments, an owner’s title insurance policy is secured via a one-time payment. This means that you’ll secure years or even decades of coverage with this one-time payment. But if you plan to move off the property in a few months, do you need to secure all this coverage that you will only get for a short period of time? 

Unfortunately for investors looking to save money, forgoing an owner’s title insurance policy can lead to serious problems. Here’s why: 

• Missed Issues - A distressed or foreclosed property is much more likely to have title issues than a property in better standing. That’s not to say these issues will be missed during a title investigation ahead of your purchase, but if there are more issues to discover because of the state of the property, there’s a higher chance a title defect is missed, and it will fall on you to address without title insurance. 

• Undiscovered Mechanic’s Liens - Depending on the state of the property, there’s a possibility that you’re not the first person who has attempted to fix it up or improve on the property. If work was performed by a contractor or business and they never received payment, they may take out a mechanic’s lien on the property, meaning that they are seeking payment from the owner for their services. Depending on how the lien was filed, it may not have been discovered during the title search, and you would become responsible for settling this debt if you close on the property and forgo title insurance. 

Fixer upper properties can provide immense upside to commercial investors, but make sure you factor in the cost of acquiring an owner’s title insurance policy into your budget. Let the team at Commercial Partners set you up with an owner’s title insurance policy suited to the needs of your property. 

For more information about owner’s title insurance or the commercial purchasing process, reach out to the team at Commercial Partners today at (612) 337-2470.