Real Estate School by Julianne E. Murray, Esquire We are now in our fourth installment, Real Estate School 104, Title Searches. In the first installment, I started with how you get from a ratified sales contract to an attorney’s office. In my second installment, I described three very important documents related to real estate transactions: the deed, the mortgage and the note. The third installment discussed the Settlement Sheet HUD-1. Title Searches For our fourth installment, I am going to discuss title searches. When a piece of property is bought, we know from installment three that the current owner (the […]
Real Estate School by Julianne E. Murray, Esquire We are now in our third installment, Real Estate School 103, the Settlement Sheet HUD-1. In the first installment, I started with how you get from a ratified sales contract to an attorney’s office. In my second installment, I described three very important documents related to real estate transactions: the deed, the mortgage and the note. The Real Estate Settlement Sheet HUD-1 In this installment, I thought I would explain the “accounting” of a real estate settlement. It is called the settlement sheet or the HUD-1. This form lists all of the accounting details […]
Real Estate School by Julianne E. Murray, Esquire I started the Real Estate School because buying a house is probably the most significant purchase you will make in your life. I think it’s important to have some general knowledge about what goes on in the transaction as well as an understating of some of the documents. 3 Important Documents: Deed, Mortage, and Note There are 3 documents I want to explain in this installment: deed, mortgage, and note A deed is a document that transfers ownership from one person or entity to another. It is signed by the current owner […]
Real Estate School by Julianne E. Murray, Esquire Buying a house is probably the most significant purchase you will make in your life. In a perfect world, you would know and understand the paperwork involved in it. But, because of the nature of banking, and real estate laws, a number of documents and signatures is massive so many purchasers don’t even try to get a grip on what they are signing. They just sign where they are told. I’m not going to attempt to explain every document – but I am going to explain some very important ones and the […]
As a refresher, a title search is completed to show that each previous owner properly conveyed the property, free of encumbrances to the next owner. When the title search is completed it is typically reviewed by an attorney to make sure everything looks in order and there were no accidental oversights. In a perfect world, you would have nothing to worry about, meaning no one could come along and challenge your ownership to the property. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. Records are not perfect and sometimes surprises crop up that weren’t picked up in the title search. […]
When a piece of property is bought, the current owner (the seller) signs a document called a deed that transfers the ownership of that piece of property to the new owner (the buyer). Deeds are indexed so that a person can research the history of a piece of property – and find the previous deeds that have been executed over time. These deeds create what is called a chain of title. The “chain” runs from the present owner back to the original owner of the property. When you buy a piece of property a title search is completed to show […]
So you want to buy or sell a piece of real estate. Where do you start? Find a real estate agent and get them to prepare a real estate contract. A real estate contract identifies the property and agreed-to price has been signed by both the purchaser and the seller. Once signed by everyone it becomes a ratified contract. In most instances, this ratified contract is then forwarded to an attorney’s office to handle the closing. Delaware is what is called an attorney state which means that an attorney must preside over the real estate settlement. The purchaser has the […]
There are 3 documents we want to talk about today: deed, mortgage and note A deed is a document that transfers ownership from one person or entity to another. It is signed by the current owner only and conveys that owner’s ownership interest to a new owner. The deed will include the name of the seller or sellers, the name of the buyer or buyers and a legal description of the property. The legal description is more than the property address and is typically in a form called metes and bounds. A mortgage is a financing arrangement in which the […]
Today we thought we would talk about the “accounting” of a real estate settlement. It is called the Closing Disclosure. This form lists all of the accounting details of a real estate settlement for both the buyer and the seller. The Closing Disclosure is broken down into sections so that everyone is aware of what all the closing costs are. It has sections such as real estate broker fees, items in connection with the loan, items required in advance, title charges and attorney fees, taxes and recording fees. Buyers can shop prices from different lenders and attorneys. Lenders are required […]
Delaware is what is called an attorney state. Other states, like Maryland are not. In Maryland a title agent at a title company can conduct the real estate settlement. In attorney states like Delaware, an attorney must preside over the real estate settlement. Why do you care? Because as a buyer, the attorney should be representing YOU and your interests for the whole transaction – not just the title insurance piece. You are paying the attorney to do this and we think you should be aware of our responsibilities for a real estate settlement. The attorney is not only the […]
