Now that the appraisal process is complete let’s assume the appraised price came in to our satisfaction and sufficient enough for the lender to close on the loan.

---

If you missed the last post on The Appraisal or The Inspection click the links to catch up.

---

So now the question is....

What else needs to be done in order to close on our property?

Title Search

A title search is performed to confirm the party selling the property does in fact own it and has full right to sell it. It also confirms if there are any existing liens on the property.

Whether you are using financing or buying a property with cash a title search should be done.

A title search consists of:

• Identifies owners of a property
• Property History
• Search for liens against a property and against owners of a property

Obviously we want all this to be verified because the last thing you want to do is buy a property that as a large tax lien on it or lien from a contractor, etc.

A standard sales contract should address this and state the property must have all liens resolved before the title can be transferred.

Title Insurance

We want to make sure our behinds are covered and the easiest way to ensure a clean title is to make sure the below verbiage is in your sales contract because then title insurance will not be granted if there are any issues.

Generally the seller pays for the title insurance (referred to as the owner's policy) and selects the closing agent (title company). You can see that box checked in the example below.

As a buyer you can select the title company, but then you will be paying for the owner's policy.

Assessments (Liens)

The above contract verbiage states that all liens will be paid by the seller at or prior to closing in order for title to transfer.

Please Note - This does not cover liens from homeowner's associations (HOA). That information is found in the estoppel, which we will cover in the next post.

We are now another step closer to closing on a property!

---

Regards,
Mitchell J

Download the property calculator for free at the scaredycatguide website
Disclaimer: All information in this post is for educational purpose and should not be considered legal advice.