I am selling my property and the buyer's attorney ordered title more than a week ago. What could be taking so long? I don't have any leans on the property.
2006-06-25 13:06:19 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
A title search is for assessing availability of a property or properties. It is done to assure past ownerships and money that may be owed or caught up in any on-going litigation are clear and settled. It is to protect you from having to pay for an outstanding debt or loss of property due to legal actions.
Word of mouth is not binding in forty-seven states for family and fifty states for other properties sold.
2006-06-25 13:15:03 · answer #1 · answered by Calvin of China, PhD 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I own a title company. We do the title searches by computer though a subscription Internet search site. It takes about 15 minutes. Your problem is that an attorney is doing it - attorneys always take a long time to do anything, and that the attorney probably doesn't know how to do a title search and has sub-contracted the job to someone else to do. The attorney might be waiting on your search to show up in the mail (either e-mail or snail mail). What sucks is that the buyer's attorney might be billing YOU for the search. If the attorney bought the search from someone else, tell him that's the price you will pay. The charge is typically marked up from 2 times the actual to 10 times the actual price.
2006-06-26 18:02:18 · answer #2 · answered by attorney_johnson 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The title search isn't limited to your deed, the title company searches the records either back to a land grant by the state or the federal government or to a specified date given by statute. Then they work BACK forward, to ensure that the property was not encumbered by anyone in the chain of title. I'll give a quick example:
Owner 3 --> Owner 2 --> Owner 1 --> land grant
Owner 1 --> Gave an easement on the property to Joe
Owner 1 --> Gave the property to owner 2 using a general warranty deed that did not mention the easement.
There is still an easement on the property, it is in the records, but Owner 2 is unaware of it.
Owner 2 --> Owner 1
If you just went in one direction, you wouldn't have caught the recorded easement on the property. Generally this is pretty fast, since it is done using software now, but in some counties the records are still not computerized, so it has to be done by hand.
Plus the title company may have other people in the queue in front of you.
BTW, it is LIEN, not LEAN.
2006-06-25 20:15:45 · answer #3 · answered by JM 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check to make sure the title doesn't have any leans against it. If it does after you've purchased the property, you could be liable. This is why there are title companies.
2006-06-25 20:10:29 · answer #4 · answered by ndvsne1 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They type you up a bill for a few hundred dollars. The more $$$ they think you have, the longer they take to get you your title so you think they did more work so they can charge you more $$$$$.
2006-06-25 20:10:20 · answer #5 · answered by Jenny A 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bureaucracy. They just charge a lot to type your name in a computer. Lots of breaks involved.
2006-06-25 20:10:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋