When you decide to purchase a new home or property, or on the other side of the spectrum, to sell a piece of property, you will likely hear the title agency inform you that they will have to wait on the title search to get reviewed. What is that, and what does that even mean? I think the easiest way to understand the question is to go through the process step by step.
Step 1 – A Title Search Conducted by an Abstractor, Attorney, Paralegal, etc
- They will search through the County Recorder’s Documents to ensure no harmful encumbrances to the land’s title.
- The above is a review of the Deed Chain of Title. They review all of the deeds during the prescribed period of time (Typically 40 years for a Residential Property and 60 years for a Commercial Property).
- Alongside reviewing the Deeds, the individual will also check for Easements, Leases, Tax Liens, Judgement Entries, and Open Mortgages.
- Essentially, any document affecting the transferability of the parcel.
- One important note is that if your family has owned the property for over 100 years, a title search needs to go back to the family’s source of title and may require a longer wait time.
Step 2 – Review of Title Search
- Once they conduct the Title Search, the Documents (Deeds, Mortgages, Liens, Etc.) are assembled, usually into a PDF document for an attorney to review.
- The attorney checks the Deeds and all relevant documents to ensure no unextinguished prior interests (life estates, unprobated estate, missed dower releases), unpaid taxes, valid judgment entries, or unknown open mortgages.
Step 3 – Clear Title
- This stage involves the Title Agency working alongside all parties to the transaction to obtain any signatures or documents required to pay off and release old mortgages or to extinguish any unreleased interests.
Ultimately, a title search is a review of the title for the property in your transaction to ensure that when you buy the property, you can confidently know that it is yours.