Is There A Cheaper Way To Do A Title Search?
I called a local title company and asked how much it costs to do a title search and they told me like $195.00. WOW! There has to be a cheaper way. How are you guys doing it?
Any advise is truly appreciated.
Quinn
I do them myself at the county recorders office for free.
Here is a link to help you out:
http://www.thecreativeinvestor.com/modules.php?mop=modload&name=Forum&file=viewtopic&topic=17179&forum=18
John (LV)
Sanjiosee
You do your own searches.? Who does your courthouse searches, How do you do date downs to day 0800 AM www.recordings.To establish priorities of recordation. How do you insure when you sell there is a gap in coverage. How do you examine deeds for little blasters like subordination agreements past and still in line. Yip, Abstracting in the year 2003.
I may do it on occasion for a very limited occasion to cover the need to imediately record because there may be a flier deed floating but other then one time tiny never.
I am impressed. Lucius
Please forgive I am trying to figure how you can do that with any accuracy. I think I have part of it.
Do you order a Preliminary Title, then cancel and utilize that as a starter for your abstract????
Can you pick up Federal and State Liens which means day before full search in the Court house to see if any fell the day before your recordation?
Do you have a friend that is on a title companys night search of judicial records team?
What if you run into an open order and some recordation has been presented and is notarized and timed into an escrow a request for title insurance has been requested but has not been completed, What do you do then and how do you find out about it.
How about an unpaid real estate tax, can you pick that up.
Advise me I want to learn. Lucius
Once again, my mentor Lufos tells it
like it is and lays it on the line.
The cheapest way you can do a title search is to pay the $195.
In your purchase agreement say that Seller pays these expences.
Include this:
TITLE INSURANCE:
The ________________ or his agent, at seller ’s expense, agrees to make application to the _________________ for Title Insurance on the aforementioned property,and if after examination by this Company the title is found insurable, the buyer hereby
agrees to accept a title Policy issued by said Company in its usual form and to comply with this contract. WITHIN 10 DAYS after receiving a report on the title, and it is agreed that such report shall be conclusive evidence of good title subject to the exceptions therein stated, otherwise that the earnest money is to be refunded.
That's the cheapest way I know.
Quote:
On 2003-11-30 22:58, Lufos wrote:
Please forgive I am trying to figure how you can do that with any accuracy. I think I have part of it.
Do you order a Preliminary Title, then cancel and utilize that as a starter for your abstract????
Can you pick up Federal and State Liens which means day before full search in the Court house to see if any fell the day before your recordation?
Do you have a friend that is on a title companys night search of judicial records team?
What if you run into an open order and some recordation has been presented and is notarized and timed into an escrow a request for title insurance has been requested but has not been completed, What do you do then and how do you find out about it.
How about an unpaid real estate tax, can you pick that up.
Advise me I want to learn. Lucius
Thank you Lucius.
I have read this thread 4 times and was more stunned at the replies each time.
I was too tired to type out a post explaining all that you did.
The $195 sounds like a deal. I cant find a title company that will even do a preliminary title search without an escrow being open..is this usually the case? Since we dont typically "open" an escrow with a Sub To purchase, how do you get around this?
Guidance from the wise is greatly welcome!
Molotov
I pay $125 for a search from a title company. Too busy to run around and do it myself, way too many other things to do.
In the end, just get that money from your buyer. Make the house price $100,190
...
Think about what happens when you have 5 or 10 houses on your hands. Pay for the searches...it's just the price of doing business.
I thot this would be fun to answer, because I too do my own searches. I worked for a title company doing searches and for starters, I'll say that they're not very thorough, very often. They try to get too many done in a day and rush thru them. when it's not your own money, people don't care. turns out, i usually got the callbacks from our own searchers who missed $138k mortgages from 1998, blah blah balh.
so, to try some of Lufo's (and apparently others' ) questions ...
if you're doing your own searches and you have to wonder about recordings within the last day or two, my answer is simple, you don't worry about those. you put a cover date on the search and say, we verify up to the date the county shows as the effective date, and no more. so if something has been recorded after that date, we won't see it ourselves. Most times here, one county can be current (within a week) and the next county over may be 2 months behind. never can tell.
recorder of deeds here, will show subordination agreements as DM (for deed miscellaneous). when records doesn't pull it out as a separate recording, you must surf the microfiche for all related docs and u can find stuff like that buried in them. make sure to even pick up unsatisfied UCC (financial statements) from the recorder of deeds as well as the prothy. also, to find where to start the seach, we go back 3 months to the day prior to the last deed with consideration - not a $1 deed. this is the date we use to start the search on liens, judgments, utilities, localities, etc ...
i'll tell you what, once you learn to search yourself in your own county, you won't pay anyone again, $250 (here) for thier couple hours of time.
<IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_smile.gif">[ Edited by jackman on Date 12/01/2003 ]
Lufos,
you make it sound as if it is impossible to do your own searches....or is it just not worth the time because a title search isnt done untill an offer is accepted and the liability is best left with a professonal? If that is the case, then I could see that my time is better spent elswhere. Then again eliminating one fee can pay a full time emploee to do other tasks as well. What is the liability of a title company anyway?? Is tha t true that a title co. wont do one on a sub2 deal?
Wheelin'[ Edited by WheelerDealer on Date 12/01/2003 ]
Quinn--
I'm saying this with a smile on my face but you need to live next to a CFO of a title company. I do and he charges me "notta".
However, before I was paying about $125-150.
Time to move.
Ah, I order title searchs on properties I take subject 2. No problems at all.
Fortunately, I have a service that only charges $35 each to do a title serch and lien search.
C-
Quote:
On 2003-12-01 14:16, cpifer wrote:
Fortunately, I have a service that only charges $35 each to do a title serch and lien search.
C- <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_eek.gif">
That sounds GREAT!
Would you care to share the name of your service to us, I am sure they could use more business.