The necessity of title searches to ensure clear title

For many immigrants, the dream of home ownership was one of the reasons they came to America. Since the early days of our republic, counties maintained collections of documents detailing real estate transactions and property liens. For generations, professionals in the real estate industry have searched through courthouse records to ensure that the property in question rightfully belonged to the person or company claiming to be the owner. While computers have made this task easier, it is still necessary to conduct a thorough search.

The cost to property owners to defend themselves against a claim that their property is not rightfully their own can be significant. Lenders do not want to approve a loan or a mortgage unless they conclude that the selling party has true title to the land being sold. Therefore, it is important that a complete title search is performed to remove any doubt as to the property’s ownership and to ensure that there are no outstanding impediments to the conveyance before any real estate transaction is finalized. Title searches are intended to achieve two goals: First, to make sure the chain of title of the property correctly proves the current owner does have title to the land; secondly, to verify that there are no liens, encumbrances or other filings which would prevent the owner from conveying a particular piece of property.

Many home buyers today may believe that they can sufficiently check a property’s history using online resources. In addition to finding the information on a property, however, home buyers must be able to recognize and understand the relevance of real-estate documents. An experienced real estate lawyer understands the significance of the recorded documents and how they impact the question of who owns a parcel of property, its physical dimensions and whether it can be conveyed.  

Before making any real estate purchase or transaction, contact the attorneys at the Law Office of George “Dave”Giddens, P.C. located at 10400 Academy Road N.E., Suite 350 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Call the Law Office of George “Dave”Giddens at (505) 633-6298 to set up an appointment or visit the firm’s website at giddenslaw.com for more information.