A Fistful of Dirt

Failure - the Podcast

Back in the day, the sale of land was consummated by a ceremonial act: the buyer gave to the seller a fistful of dirt from the property being sold. It was beauty in its simplicity. And, what could possibly go wrong? Either the buyer delivered the dirt or she didn’t. Well … the parties might have different understandings of the tract being sold. The supposed sale of the “back nine” of one man’s yard might spark a country-wide invasion. (OK, it’s a stretch. But it’s based on something we read in Wikipedia).

Today, we are more sophisticated. Buyers and sellers located continents apart may negotiate and close deals for land that they’ve never seen, much less, held the dirt of (yep, you caught us, a dangling preposition). All of this, through middlemen, like brokers, lawyers, and escrow agents. With such an august crew facilitating the transaction, what could possibly go wrong?

Join the team from Failure - the Podcast as they explore the wild world of title insurance with Ethan Powsner, Vice President of Market & Technology Development, for the Fidelity National Title Group. You’ll be thankful that there’s someone there to make right things that go wrong.