I am buying a house and the laywer got the title and then did a search on it and she said there was somthing "on" it and it had to be cleared up before we can close but i didn't find out what it was. She also said that it wasn't because of this seller but whoever owned the house before him. He bought the house for cheap and flipped it. What could be on the title and how long could it take to clean up.
2007-02-16 13:43:54 · 7 answers · asked by ayoung21921 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
Could be a zillion things. To a lien that was not cleared properly to boundry issues etc.
The attorney should tell you if you ask him/her what the deal is and then you will know for real. Shouldn't be a secret.
2007-02-16 13:48:46 · answer #1 · answered by Bob 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When they say there is something on the title, it is usually a lien on the house for an unpaid bill. It could have come from a subcontractor not getting paid for some work when he was getting it ready for the flip, unpaid HOA dues, or something as major as an IRS lien for unpaid taxes.
The title search is supposed to turn up these items during the escrow time, which it did for you. Unfortunately for the current owner, unless he has title insurance, he is the one now responsible for paying the lien before he can sell the place.
2007-02-16 13:56:05 · answer #2 · answered by Brian G 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i believe that your attorney means that she will call the title company in order to determine whether a title search was done when your seller bought the house. if your seller paid for title insurance--it's so standard that i find it difficult to think that he did not buy it, then whatever "encumbrance(s)" are on the title now will be cleared by the title insurance company of the seller. they must be, else, that title insurance company had not done the job it was paid to do. ask your lawyer if the seller got a mortgage. if so, for sure, title insurance was required by his lender.
usually an encumbrance (something that prevents you from obtaining clean, saleable ["merchantable"] title) can be cleared at your closing. i do not know why it would have to be cleared before you close, unless, like i said above, no title insurance was purchased by your seller.
liens placed against the real estate are the most predominant encumbrances. the title insurance company in the past should have examined the title for liens (or any other encumbrances) and then told your seller's attorney that either they were being taken care of out of the proceeds due the OLD seller (to YOUR seller), or else that they would "insure over" them. if it did nothing, it can be sued by the person you are buying the real estate from.
sometimes a title company "insures over" what COULD prevent you from having merchantable title. this encumbrance may be that a part of your neighbor's property--for instance, his fence-- sits on your lot line.
you need to know that a difficult one to clear is when some of your property was taken by "adverse possession." that means that say you had one acre of land. a drawing of the exact boundaries of it would be reflected on your survey. so pretend that over time, joe blow, who lives next door, drives his tractor up and down a part of your acre in order to get to another piece of his farm across the road. if you do not fence off your property and do nothing to stop joe blow from continued "enjoyment" of your real estate, that part of it can be taken from you and given to him by the process of adverse possession.
well, i really think that your lawyer owes it to you to TELL YOU what the "something" is, don't you? i mean, your lawyer is your agent, and you pay your lawyer, so why don't you know what the encumbrance is? then you can think about whether or not you want to take title, as it is, and close now, close later, or walk away. if you got such a deal, you may well want to take it with the known "defects of title," which are the encumbrances, which you yourself will clear up later, or not. but as for me, i would not take title to real estate unless it were entirely merchantable, since even if bought it for cash, what if i wanted to place a new mortgage against it? that would make for big problems.
tell your lawyer to tell you what they are, and if you do not understand what she means, make her fess up to you. and ask her why it is that she believes that it will take a long time to clear up title. you have that right.
2007-02-16 14:19:17 · answer #3 · answered by Louiegirl_Chicago 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It could be a number of things, and could take a long time, or a little time. Most likely the closing attorney when he bought it probably forgot to discharge the previous mortgage.
There could also be tax liens, or mechanics liens
2007-02-16 13:50:40 · answer #4 · answered by frankie b 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your lawyer has discovdred a CLOUD ON TITLE, it may be there was a lien placed on the house which is more than likely, a simle matter to clear up and then on to close.
2007-02-17 01:20:42 · answer #5 · answered by sylviavnpttn 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
could be lots.
lawyer should tell you...
should be on the title
they should have given you a copy...
you can..refuse the home..if you don't like it...
what if the home was bought cheap through a "police / government auction" and people of strange reputation lived there??? you want those types knocking on your door for collection...????
2007-02-16 13:55:42 · answer #6 · answered by m2 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
probably a lein
2007-02-16 13:59:57 · answer #7 · answered by Robert F 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋