Most real estate closings are uneventful, and the ones that are not usually fail for the same handful of reasons. This article explains what a title search actually finds, what a title commitment is really telling you, and what the exceptions on Schedule B mean in practice — because that schedule, not the policy amount, determines what you are covered for. It covers the recurring defects: unreleased mortgages, judgment and tax liens, missing heirs, defective legal descriptions, easements nobody disclosed, mechanic's liens filed after the search, and the boundary problems a survey reveals when someone bothers to order one. Separate parts explain the cures — corrective deeds, releases, affidavits, bonding, indemnity, and quiet title actions — and which one fits which problem. Later parts cover what happens when a closing fails, who bears the loss, and the remedies available to a buyer or seller depending on how the contract was written. Examples run throughout, and the recurring point is that title problems are cheap to find early and expensive to discover on closing day.