When do the title company steps in?

Question

Hello.......

Once you have a motivated seller and they for sure would like to sell their property, once you get the home info.......where do you search to find out if everything is ok with the home? Also is the only time you deal with the title company is once you have a completed contract?

Karron Edwards

Newbie

Steven G. · Answer

Where do you search to find out if everything is ok with the home? - Its good practice to ask the seller if they have any liens or back taxes on the property (95% of homeowners know this), when you are explaining how the closing/contract works (many folks are naive about real estate contracts), and I have found most folks know approximately what they owe (not necessarily to the dollar on what they owe in taxes...but kind of close). This will immediately tell you if it is a good deal or not. If it looks like it will work out, just put the place under contract and send it to the title company. It's the title company's job to do the research and find if there are any liens, etc.  Note: You can learn to do basic abstracting (title research) work yourself...but that's not a required skill to be a real estate investor. I would not recommend that for newbies...in the beginning it's always good to use a title company with title insurance on each deal.

Also is the only time you deal with the title company is once you have a completed contract?- Usually, yes.