What is a property title?

13th Nov 2009 by JonB

The title of a property is generally used as proof of ownership. For example, when buying a house you, your bank, or your realtor will typically call up a title (or escrow) company and ask for "title work". These companies specialize in finding all the public records associated with a piece of real property. Title insurance will usually tell you who owned the property in the past, what price they bought it for, and who they sold it to. More importantly, title work will tell you who has liens on the property. This is referred to as "chain of title". Not only will the title compny supply you with this chain of title, but they will insure you against any unforseen leins on the property. This is important because the last thing you want some lien holder coming out of nowhere claiming first rights to the property you just bought. All finance companies require you to purchase title insurance before they close on our mortgage.

This answer is the subjective opinion of the writer and not of FinancialAdvisory.com