{"id":52654,"date":"2014-01-06T09:59:28","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T16:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=52654"},"modified":"2021-03-16T10:14:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T16:14:42","slug":"2014-01-06-real-estate-deeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2014-01-06-real-estate-deeds","title":{"rendered":"What’s The Difference Between a Quitclaim Deed and a Warranty Deed?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on real estate titles and deeds<\/a>.\u00a0 I wanted to follow up on that post with a bit more detail on a couple of widely used deed types.\u00a0 I know, this can seem like this is simple stuff, but in reality it can be a bit complex.\u00a0 It can be especially complex to the newbies out there who are perhaps hearing these terms for the first time.<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s look again at exactly what a deed is.\u00a0 A deed is a conveyance of real estate.\u00a0 It is signed by a grantor (typically a seller) and is the instrument that commonly transfers the title to real estate from one person to another.\u00a0 A deed is how one \u201csells\u201d real estate.<\/p>\n

There are two common types of deeds that are used between what are often referred to as \u201cnormal\u201d buyers and sellers.\u00a0 Those two types are warranty deeds<\/b> and quitclaim deeds<\/b>.\u00a0 While both of these documents are deeds, what they convey and how they convey it are quite different and every real estate investor should understand that difference.<\/p>\n

There are of course other types of deeds<\/a> such as tax deeds, special warranty deeds, etc.\u00a0 But these are usually used in special situations between \u201cnon-normal buyers\u201d such as when a bank forecloses on a property.\u00a0 I will cover those in another post.<\/p>\n

Warranty Deed<\/h2>\n

A warranty deed<\/b> is a deed in which the grantor warrants that they have a good, clear and marketable title.\u00a0 You can think of this type of deed just as you would with any other product in which you get a warranty.\u00a0 The maker or seller of the product provides you with a warranty that their product will work.\u00a0 If the product does not, they will somehow fix the problem.\u00a0 The situation is very similar for a warranty deed.\u00a0 The seller believes the title is good and clear.\u00a0 They believe that they own the title and can transfer it to you.<\/p>\n

Warranty deeds are perhaps the best deeds a seller can receive and it is what I demand from a seller before I purchase any property.\u00a0 However, warranty deed or no, I always suggest a buyer get a good and thorough title search done prior to purchase just to be safe.<\/p>\n

Quitclaim Deed<\/h2>\n

A quitclaim deed<\/b> is a type of deed that simply conveys any and all interest in a particular property.\u00a0 It is different from a warranty deed in that it does not warrant anything, it just transfers.\u00a0 These deeds can be quite legitimate but have also been abused.\u00a0 If you see a quit claim deed on a chain of title, it should raise your eyebrows a bit and extra caution should be used.\u00a0 Remember, the seller using this deed is not warranting anything. They are merely transferring any and all interest in a property.<\/p>\n

Quitclaim deeds<\/a> are fine for many situations, such as when a husband and wife are transferring their interest into an estate planning tool like a revocable trust. \u00a0But they can be used as an avenue for fraud.\u00a0 For example, I can quitclaim to any of you any and all interest I have in the Empire State Building.\u00a0 Do you now own the Empire State Building?\u00a0 No. You own only my interest, and guess how much interest I had. \u00a0Caution is needed therefore because people have used quitclaim deeds to lure unsuspecting buyers into paying for properties that the \u201cseller\u201d does not own.\u00a0 I even understand that in some parts of the country, many recorded quitclaim deeds are suspect.<\/p>\n

Just be careful when your see or are offered a quitclaim deed.\u00a0 Many falsely think that warranty and quitclaim deeds are of equal value.\u00a0 They are not.\u00a0 A warranty deed is the way to go.<\/p>\n

Ever had a bad experience with a quitclaim deed?\u00a0 Share it in the comments.
\nPhoto Credit: jety<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago I wrote a post on real estate titles and deeds.\u00a0 I wanted to follow up on that post with a bit more detail on a couple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":52676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5529],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-marketing"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}