Property Torrence Title, etc.

[CSmith21]

What is the name of your state? CA

I bought 2 land properties in the middle of nowhere, one in California and one in Arizona. They are fully paid and I have been paying for the land ownership taxes which does not amount to more than $100 on both. I have several questions: Can anyone tell me what a Torrence Title is? Is that the same as a deed? (I have the Deeds of sale for both stating me as owner) How do I know who holds the title to the property? Or am I supposed to register it with some title company? When I search for land information in the county website, it does list me as the owner. Am I supposed to be doing something else regarding it's paperwork or registration? or is everything in order as long as the county recorder's office lists me as the owner and tax payer? Also, can anyone else like the government/developer sell the property if I don't do any developments on it? What about reporting it I hope someone can give me information on this very soon. And as always, thank you in advance!

[FlyingRon]

A Torrence Title is a title granting a private party land usually as a result of some government action (statue, transfer of government lands, old land patents and grants, etc...).

Unlike your car which gets issued a new title (typically) on changes in ownership where the posession of the most current title dominates, land ownership is a series of deeds or other grants where A transfers property to B, B transfers property to C, etc... While you can typically think that the deed that grants the property to you as your "deed" it is meaningless by itself without tracing the history of the property back to some known starting point. The Torrence Title is typically such a starting place where it says that the government has decided that this parcel belongs to some particular person.

Title searching is kind of fun for someone who's got a casual interest in it, however if you have a monetary interest, best to let professionals do this title search. They will even issue an insurance policy that warrants the results of their findings (so even if they get it wrong, you're protected).