There's this house in a neighborhood not far from me. It's about 700 square feet and is listed at $25k. My plan was to offer $20k in cash for the home.

Now tell me, why can't someone just sign over the title to me?

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They can, if they want.

How you pay for it doesn't change basic facts, though.

You still have to have a typical closing, unless you're willing to take the chance that they don't have clear title or that the legal description is accurate, or do all of that work yourself. And the deed has to be recorded, etc. Basically you have to protect yourself and comply with the real estate laws of the state (and perhaps county) in which the property is located.

You're comparing the title to a vehicle to a deed for a house.

Two completely different concepts. The title of the vehicle gives ownership rights to the person with the name on the front of the title. He can sign the title over to you and you have reasonable assurance that the government will accept that title and issue you another in your own name.

With a house, a deed is nothing more than a piece of paper that states the legal description of the property and the fact that the seller is "deeding" the property to you. It's not worth the paper that it is printed on if the seller does not actually own the house. That's where title companies come into play with their outrageous fees. They guarantee that the seller has the legal right to convey that property to you, and, if he actually doesn't..........or there is a lien against the house..........the title company is on the hook to you.

BC is right, although I don't think the fees for that sort of thing are all that outrageous. The rules governing the title to real estate (and the insurance for it) are widely misunderstood and vary from place to place.

Get a good lawyer or settlement agent. IMHO.

Pardon me while I roll over on the floor with laughter............

Normally you can buy a title gaurantee package cheaper than individual items done separatly. They pretty well gaurantee all aspects of the property other than the physical condition of the house. Talk to a bank or a morgage broker as they buy them all the time for their clients and to protect their posteriors. They are a percentage of cost instrument . So at your dollars should not be bad if avaulable.

You do not even need a lawyer I believe as they do a quick check themselves. Probably unwise to proceed otherwise. Contractual offering and acceptance based on results of this.

Sure beats paying a separate lawyer, survey company etc etc. You should have some protection. Issues from fifty years ago for example may still exist.

Something like an old morgage that was paid off but still recorded otherwise against the property do arise. Sometimes a purchaser will refuse to accept a property until the seller cleans up the issue.

You do not want to deal with that later for the next buyer. I am not sure what a title company would be obligated to do with something like that. I suspect nothing unless there was another party acting.

One thing I do personally is talk to any neighbour whose property borders on what I am buying. Just to establish primarily that there is current agreement where the property lines are and they correspond to the deed.

It also gives me a chance to establish if the surrounding property owners are normal people. Nobody in their right mind wants to have a nut job next door. Property line disputes are uncomforatable as well to say the least.

I bought a house in a similar fashion this summer. I did go through a title agency. The cost was about 1 thousand bucks, give or take.

Like Brian said, you pay for the title ins, as well as the title search.

Could you imagine if you bought that house for 20k, and after found out that there is a 50k lien on the property?

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Oh, there are far, far worse things than that. I saw a few when I was practicing.

Talk to the people at the court house and ask about recording a deed in your area. Talk to some title agencies. They are usually owned by lawyer. Read about what 'fee simple' means.

In general if there are not liens against the property and the owner is not being sued, owes medicare, IRS or behind on student loans, in bankruptcy, etc, you can do this if allowed by local law.

Title insurance is usually used to protect finance companies and not new owners. Find out what you are actually getting for your money. Read about a warranty deed.

If you have a flat fee Real Estate Broker in your area it would be worth a stop for a talk. Many of them are slumlords and own 75 or 100 rental houses. They buy like you are talking about doing. Don't worry about them wanting the house you are looking at. There are so many of them out there right now you can't throw a cat without hitting one.

See who prepared the last deed for the property and call them.

This is a factually incorrect statement.

Without title insurance, the new owner has very limited recourse. He's going to get tens of thousands of dollars from the old seller based upon a "warranty deed"? It's as good as a judgment...........generally worthless unless the seller has assets.

Yup. Title insurance is not an option, even on a cash sale. You NEED it.

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An example of how title insurance is worth the money:
Some years ago I bought a nearby fenced two acre property with a house, garage and well house. Rented it out. Paid cash but did it thru a title company and had insurance. A couple of years later the adjacent bare "acre" came up up for sale. Savvy prospective buyers told the agent "this doesn't really look like an acre". The property was surveyed and sure enough, it was 3/4 of an acre. It turns out that the guy who had built the house I bought, being the only one building in this remote subdivision, just fenced wherever he felt like and I actually had two and a quarter acres. I was notified " your garage AND well are located on our property." No, I countered, I have title insurance to this parcel. The title company accepted the existing fence and property corners, it's mine, one way or the other. The title company had to pay the owners of the adjacent property at market value for the quarter acre inside my fence, and my little bit of lawyer's fees. Worth every penny.

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

What you are saying is what I used to believe about title insurance. Later came to find out that you really do need to read the fine print. There are different types of title policies and you can't assume that you are protected just because the deed is recorded as a warranty deed. As an example, in the state of Maine, the seller can warranty the deed, no insurance company needed. Guess what that and $1.79 will get you?

As I explained, a warranty deed isn't worth the paper it is printed on without some title insurance to back it up.

There are two types of title insurance. Lender's title insurance covers the bank in case somebody lays claim to the title in any way. The bank insists that you purchase same and pay for it..........for them. Fee title insurance covers the buyer under the same circumstances. The bank doesn't care if you purchase this or not............but, you're a fool if you don't. Elchivito is case in point.

Be aware that here in the US you are NEVER buying "the house" as such. What you will pay for is the land with everything attached to it plus make sure that you have the land, water and air rights as well. As per general definition everything down to the center of the earth and above your piece of land is owned by you. How do you think the people in Texas have the rights to all the oil in their back yard? A lot of people overlook this aspect just because they don't know about it.
As the TwitchKitty have mentioned above check your local laws. When I was taking mine real estate exam they are actually two exams, first part is State and the second is Federal. Every state have their own rules.
I've bought my own house exactly the way you want to buy this one. I went to Real Estate school and got my Real Estate certificate. The cost was all together just under $600.00 including registration in the local and national "Realtor" database. Done the whole deal myself. This was 6 years ago, never had any issues. It is not that complicated as everyone is trying to make you believe. You just need to know how to do it and what kind of papers you need. 100% of them you can get from your local authorities. Do you really think that the agency who are dealing with deeds "protection" have some superficial and secret access to a file of documents you don't? The "deeds" company are form of insurance company, a middle man that charge you to obtain records for you and take your money for it. Once again remember that all the information they have access to is a public information, nothing secret.
If you go to your local register office you can have printout of every single transaction for every property since the first time this property have been recorded including all the info regarding outstanding liens etc. Unless the current owner own this piece of land clean and clear the actual owner is some bank, so find the bank is and go talk to them. By law they need to issue you a "receipt" for the sale and in fact this is good enough for you to have legal protection that the property is clear of any liens.
If you "buying" from the bank just think as buying from Sears. you got the goods and you get your receipt for the purchase as proof that it is yours and fully paid for it. If the manufacturer of the goods have a problem for not receiving his money from Sears, are they coming after you or Sears?
Perhaps the "experts" here will jump on my post but just ask them who have bought their own property on their own and how do they know?
Good luck with the deal.

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