A title search is a foremost and mandatory process before buying a property. Let's see why?
For everyone "Happiness is buying your first dream home" Considering it is one of the more expensive purchases in one's life, to avoid any future disaster it is necessary to check all legal documents of the property.
What Is a Title Search?
When you’re buying a home from a seller, you’d likely presume that the seller is titled to sell the home in question. However, that assumption can lead to tragic consequences if someone else with a declaration or lien on the property shows up on the doorstep.
A property title search examines public records on the property to verify the property’s rightful legal proprietor. The title search services should also expose if there are any claims or liens on the property that could affect your purchase.
Why Do I Need a Title Search?
Finding out who owns the house you want to purchase is only the first step. First, the current owner might not even be conscious of an old claim against the property’s title. Second, the debts of any of the earlier owners can come back to haunt you because they adhere to the property.
Things like unpaid property taxes, homeowner’s organization fees, and bills for home enhancements might become your obligation if you were to skip a title search, or the title search failed to find it. That’s why lenders need both title searches and title insurance as part of the mortgage underwriting process.
Let's go through the ten most common problems here which are only found when you do a proper "Title Search"
Problems with the boundary lines: This is the most common problem faced; there might be a chance details of the boundary lines are mistakenly mentioned in the necessary documents but when you verify the documents from the public records- there you found the real one because of this current owner has to face a problem with their neighbours.
Liens or debts on the property: If the seller is not financially stable or he doesn't have all their financial records in good standing – there may be a chance still significant liens or a debt still existing on the property which means the new owner of the property is responsible for clearing the debt.
Bankruptcies: This is an awkward situation that could be trouble for a new owner. If the seller declared bankruptcy, Judgments on the bankruptcy even extend to a new buyer. In this situation, if the buyer is not cautious then might end up paying the entire amount judgment imposed against the previous seller.
Forged documents: Unluckily, we aren't living in a totally honest world. With all the documents involved in homeownership over the years, there is always the chance that forged or fabricated documents that affect property ownership are filed within public records. One must falsely replicate someone else's signature or piece of the paper key to the entire ownership process.
An uncovered will: Sometimes it is difficult to identify a choice, decisions, and intentions that are made on the property by the seller. There is always a chance that the seller might write "WILL "on someone if they don't have legal hire or if the owner is deceased there might be a chance the WILL can arise as a problem after a long year back.
Missing heirs: When the owner has died, the ownership of the property may fall to their heirs or that someone mentioned in the WLL. However, those heirs might be missing at the time of purchase. This scenario may occur after some time you have purchased a property – Could affect your rights to the property.
Divorce edicts: Unsuccessful marriage can have terrific upshots on the financial stability of the household. Yes, there might be a chance that the owner might lose part (or even all) of the property in a divorce settlement which means the other divorce party may have to involve in the process. If the party is not involved or does not give their permission for a sale then the entire process may come to an end. This especially important thing that only is checked when you perform a prior property title search.
The previous owner failed to pay state or local taxes: if a property owner fails to pay taxes on the property, it may result in a tax lien foreclosure. Therefore the property may be sold by the state to trust or investor through a public auction.
Other owners: This might be a very rare scenario however it may happen that the property should have another list of owners due to some other debts or liens of the current owner. In this case, only a property tile search can reveal and able identify the real problem.
Mistakes in public records: As a buyer, we all will believe in public records unfortunately sometimes "Humans may make errors" – details mentioned in the real document mismatches with public records that are printed on time of purchase.
Play it safe!!!! Don't get blindsided by unexpected problems with your new home! SKPTS Title Services Company will take care of all the document-related issues.