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Title searches on the net?

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Some Random Guy

Senior Member
only if you want to get the wrong answer.

Title searches require looking at the actual recorded deeds for the property and reviewing previous sales of the property.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
with property records like what one finds in a county recorders office at best there are only partial records when they have them recorded with non paper methods , In the last county where I lived before moving here most of the records they had that were older still started out with large ledger style books that had entrys done by hand for the older info relating to propertys and the newer stuff from the mid 60s forward was on microfiche. your way better off having a title search done by pros who will make sure that they dont miss info and back it up with title insurance than you are doing it your self .
 

nextwife

Senior Member
A title search involves WAY more than merely a chain of deeds. While there ARE deeds, a title company is tracking all interests backwards and making certian that prior interests and partial interests have been discharged. They are tracking backwards through land splits and combinations. They are tracking mortgages, full and partial releases, whether parties had the authority to act (as in LLCs, Trusts, Bankrupcies, Probates, Guardianships), they are tracking when parties were in title, and what liens and judgements may have attached to their interests. They are reviewing all sorts of records to determines easements and restrictions that affect the property. Many of which used to merely be added as extra language on a deed. So the documents themselves must be copied and reviewed.

Just because a document was recorded does NOT mean it is correct. Example: I've seen deeds recorded that were not properly executed. I've seen mortgages and mortgage releases somehow get recorded in the wrong county. Or posted to the wrong property (inverted lot and block numbers). There are title defects that are hidden and the best searcher would not know by reviewing the document. Examples: Deed executed by a Minor, Deed by a person who was mentally incompetent, Fraudulant Deed.

And many don't realize that a person need not have a fee simple ownership to sign a Quit Claim deed. So if one has recieved a Quit Claim, it does not necessarilly mean they own now it. One has to first know what interest the person quit claiming had, and so on.

Unless one is trained in reading legal descriptions, and sometimes mapping them, knowledgeable about what makes a document valid, knowledgeble about probate law, bankrupcy law, divorce law, etc as it purtains to RE, they would be an utter fool to rely on the very limited bit of info available on the internet as a substitute for actually obtaining title insurance.
 
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