Demystifying Property Title Search: Your Questions, Answered
Closing on a loan can be stressful, and the property title search is complicated. Here’s everything you need to know about the property title search.
For prospective home buyers, understanding the history of a home is crucial before committing to what might be one of the most significant purchases of their lives. Enter the property title search: a deep dive into public records to uncover the property’s past, ensuring a clear and undisputed transfer of ownership.
The property title search acts as a safeguard, unraveling any possible mysteries or disputes linked to the property. Whether it’s an undisclosed heir with potential claims, an unresolved lien from a previous owner, or discrepancies in the property’s size and boundaries, the title search brings them all to light.
Find an Agent to Help You Navigate the Paperwork
Buying and selling real estate is a complex task. A top real estate agent can serve as an invaluable transaction coordinator during steps like the title search and deed transfer.
What is the property title?
The property title establishes who owns the home and, therefore, who has the right to sell it. Unlike tangible assets, the title isn’t a physical document, like a deed; instead, it represents a bundle of rights associated with a specific property. These rights can include the ability to occupy, lease, sell, or bequeath the home.
Having a clear property title means that you have the full right to use and transfer the property without any disputes or claims from external parties.
Only the person who owns the home has the right to sell it. So, let’s say a husband and wife are trying to sell their home, but the home is in only the wife’s name. That means the wife is the only person who can sell the home, not the husband. This can be important, especially in sticky family situations like divorce.
What is a property title search?
A property title search is a search for documents on a specific property. The property title, which defines who has legal ownership of a home, might not contain all of the updated information about liens on the property. It also may not include a complete history of the property.
A property title search is comprehensive, so it looks for all local records and sources to uncover all available information about a property. Most importantly, a property title search will tell you who — besides the owner — has a claim on the home.
“Anybody who does home improvement-type stuff can put liens on a house,” says Tyler Bundy, a top real estate agent in Omaha, Nebraska. “I had a situation where a contractor put a lien on the house, claiming the seller never paid him for work he completed. The city then put a lien on the house, too.”
A property title search will also include any deed restrictions, which means it will tell you if there are limits to how the property can be used. For example, there might be a limit to the type or amount of construction the city will allow on a property.
Deed restrictions could also include:
- Building of fences
- Obstructing a neighbor’s view
- Type and number of vehicles
- Adjacent structures
- Building approval
- Running a home business
- Pet restrictions
- Color palette
- Number of bedrooms
It’s best to know what you’re getting into before you purchase a property, so knowing the deed restrictions is essential.
A property title search will also reveal if there are any easements on the property. An easement is the right for another party to use someone else’s land. Sometimes this happens with utility companies, where the owner will allow the utility company to use part of their property; or if a property happens to stretch across a section of road, the owner will allow public use of the road.
Property boundaries are also included in the property title search. This might seem pretty straightforward if you have a fence or defined property division at the side of a driveway, but problems can arise if previous construction mistakes were made, so it’s important to know exactly where your property lines sit.
