Do you consider a title policy a public record?

[sputnam]

Wow, a title company is considered an authoritative source. If you then don't believe them, who do you believe for chain of title. I guess plumbers, electrician & roofer certs are not authoritative also. Well, i might leave out roofers.

For title... the authoritative source is the recorded deed. The title report is a short cut prepared by humans... humans sometimes mess up.

A plumber or electrician is authoritative to the same degree as an appraiser. Call a different one and you might get a different answer.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

For title... the authoritative source is the recorded deed. The title report is a short cut prepared by humans... humans sometimes mess up.

A plumber or electrician is authoritative to the same degree as an appraiser. Call a different one and you might get a different answer.

Or a surveyor. I see errors on them occasionally.

 

[Zoe]

The problem with that is that you are accepting the opinion of a title company as authoritative. They are wrong about as much as anyone else. I've seen numerous title reports that were in error.

You don't need the whole title opinion. You just need the part where the lender hired the title insurance company that provided the legal description and any problems with a clean title for the mortgage.
If the title has liens on it that the lender is not aware of, they would want those resolved with the title insurance company before the mortgage was filed. The client (lender) would know that by the time they hired the appraiser. I just need a legal description on the subject.
The lender's title insurance company will handle the rest. The title opinion provides a clear legal description and owner of the subject property

 

[Zoe]

I take that back. If the client wants the whole title insurance policy in the appraisal report. I can do that too. I really just want the owner's name(s) and legal description off of it.

 

[Zoe]

I use public records locally almost all the time, but if the lender has a problem with it after I turn in the report, then I say please send me a copy of the legal and ownership on the subject from the title insurance company and title opinion.

 

[Zoe]

For title... the authoritative source is the recorded deed. The title report is a short cut prepared by humans... humans sometimes mess up.

A plumber or electrician is authoritative to the same degree as an appraiser. Call a different one and you might get a different answer.

Yeah but locally it can take a while for things to change and that is where it falls back on the client and title insurance company if the records disagree with mine.

That title insurance company has to do a title search before they issue a title insurance policy.

 

[Zoe]

The title insurance lawyers will check title records again right before that mortgage is filed to make sure the bank is 1st in line or 2nd in line or whatever. Then bank has options.

If my client calls me and says our records show your records are not right in the appraisal report. My first response is please email your record from title insurance company.

I will slap it in the report and change it as fast as possible.

Please see copy of title opinion attached and provided by client.

 

[Zoe]

On the other hand, on many commercial assignments, I have required copy of the whole title opinion insurance policy before I could complete the report. Then I just had to decide what segments my client needed before I completed the report.

We can have more issues going on in the commercial world than in the single family residential world. It can get tricky once you dig in deep in the assignment. Then you need to read the whole title policy.

You could have people with special interests in the subject for instance that are recorded and it not show up yet in the public records.

 

[TerryRohrer]

Or a surveyor. I see errors on them occasionally.

When I purchased our lot, I went to the County Surveyor's office to discuss our property and ask a few questions about the survey. They looked at the plat, saw who surveyed it, and wouldn't answer another question. Apparently, the surveyor was known for many mistakes and no one would join him in defending his work.

My dad was a surveyor/engineer and when helping him on a few jobs, we found section corners placed in the 1880s within a few inches of where we expected to find them using modern distance meters, etc. Like anything involving humans, the give a sh%t factor is more important than the technology and is increasingly rare.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

My dad was a surveyor/engineer and when helping him on a few jobs, we found section corners placed in the 1880s within a few inches of where we expected to find them using modern distance meters, etc. Like anything involving humans, the give a sh%t factor is more important than the technology and is increasingly rare.

At the end of the Oklahoma & NW corner of the Texas panhandles is a 'hitch' in the survey with New Mexico. A surveyor's error. In Wyoming some appraisers deviated from the lines to avoid Indian villages. And the occasional drunken surveyor caused all sorts of problems.