Tag: title insurance
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Roadmap: Is It Time to Transfer Your Deed to a Living Trust?
With a revocable trust (a.k.a. living trust), a deed holder may keep full control and use of a home for life. The creator (grantor) makes the trust for a beneficiary. A named trustee — and a named successor trustee to follow — will handle the assets owned by the trust on behalf of the beneficiary.…
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My Home Has Unpermitted Upgrades. Can I Transfer the Deed?
It’s a common situation. You did some DIY renovating. You didn’t realize you needed permits. Turns out, you did. Or perhaps the person who sold you the home was a DIY buff and did substantial upgrades without permission. What now? How might unpermitted renovation work affect the title to the home? And will unpermitted work…
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How the Beneficiary Claims a Transfer on Death Deed
A transfer on death deed is designed as a simpler way to pass a home along to someone else—in states that allow these deeds. With the TOD deed, a home passes much the way a bank account passes to the account holder’s named beneficiary. Ownership is transferred in a fast and inexpensive manner. Usually. Here…
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Their Fence Is Encroaching on Your Property. Could You Lose the Land?
It’s an odd legal concept. Building anything on the wrong side of a property boundary isn’t legal, but if nothing is done about it, the improper fence builder could become the owner of the enclosed land. So, say you’re uncertain about the placement of the fence. Your neighbor put it up six years ago. You…
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Giving Your Adult Child a Gift of Equity: How It’s Done
With a gift of equity, you can sell a home to a family member for less than it’s worth on the market. The difference between what the buyer pays and the actual market value is the gift. So you, as the seller, make the gift. It’s your call how much equity to give. Then, if…
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Making an Offer on a Home? Know What to Sign and What Not to Sign
So you’ve made an offer on a home. Nice work so far! A formal offer is called a real estate purchase agreement. It’s a contract that names the seller and purchaser and states the price the buyer will pay. Here, we discuss what to examine closely before you sign.
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Checklist for Closing Day: What Do I Bring to Settlement?
Settlement is a big deal for your deed. It involves the signing and filing of all documents needed for the purchase of your new home—the deed, loan documents, and settlement statement. Settlement is the first step in closing, which is the full legal process of transferring homeownership. The final step is filing the new deed…
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Title Companies: Obsolete in the Digital/AI Age, or Defenders of Critical Infrastructure?
“AI alone cannot meet the industry’s standards for accuracy, consistency and reliability.” — The First American Financial Corporation The First American Financial Corporation, which offers title insurance for deed transactions through First American Title™, has published a new white paper report, How Title Insurance Protects the Critical Infrastructure Supporting the U.S. Real Estate Economy and the…
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Insiders Explain: How Some Home Buyers Get Out of These 4 Common Closing Costs
Title agents say home buyers sometimes pay more than they need to at closing. Why? For one thing, picking all the fees apart usually won’t be a priority during the stressful days leading up to a final loan approval. And who wants to get picky at closing? That’s when a buyer is tired and itching…
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Ready to Buy? A Title Search Belongs on Your Checklist
A title search is one of the key steps in protecting your ownership interest when you buy a home. It reviews the property’s recorded history to uncover issues that could affect the deed, the seller’s right to transfer the property, or your ability to sell the home later. In a typical purchase, the title search…
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The Easement on the Title: Can We Be 100% Sure It Still Exists?
An easement grants the right to use someone else’s property for a specified reason. You probably know this. But do you know the difference between a recorded easement deed, and the actual way an easement is used? Just because an easement deed is recorded, you might assume it still legally exists. And you’d likely be…
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Stonewalled: Insurance Denied for Massachusetts Homeowners’ Boundary Land
The Massachusetts courts recently said something deed holders should know. The case could impact other states in addition to Massachusetts, depending on how their laws appear on the books. Last month, the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled that Old Republic Title Insurance Company could legally deny coverage for land the policy holders owned if the land…
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Investors: Know When a Cheap Home Is a Money Trap
In the midwestern states, purchasing a home for under $100K is entirely possible. Some people do it as an investment. In a big-picture way, it can be a smart thing to do. A deed means land, and land has scarcity value. Meanwhile, a home can also produce an income stream. That said, for every prince…
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The Best Laws Against Deed Theft: How Does Your State Rank?
For those concerned about where deed theft is taken most seriously under the laws, the data security firm EquityProtect has the facts. The company’s new Property Protection Scorecard sums up the current status of each of the 50 states and Washington, DC. The equityprotect.com/scorecard webpage ranks states using five tiers. Tier 1 shows the…
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Getting Title Insurance? Don’t Assume a Property’s Physical Conditions Are Covered
A few months back, an interesting case came out on Georgia title insurance law. It clarified the allowable claims against title insurance. People buy title insurance on closing day to guard themselves against unknown title problems affecting a property’s market value. That is, a title policy exists to protect a deed holder’s marketability of…
