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Health & Fitness

What is a Title Agency – What does a Title Agency Do?

Explaining why you need a title agency to complete your real estate transaction.

As we all know purchasing a home is one of the biggest transactions most of us will do in our life time, additionally it requires several different professionals to complete the transaction.  One of those professionals that is needed is a title agency.

What is a title agency?

A title agency ensures that the property you are purchasing is legally available for the seller to sell.  A title agency guarantees this to all parties and they handle the legal paper work required to transfer ownership from the sell to the buyer. 

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                The title agency performs several tasks for each real estate transaction:


  1. Title agencies search country real estate records to determine the legal ownership of the property.

  2. Title agencies find mortgages, liens, or unpaid taxes that must be settled before a property can be sold.

  3. Title agents also look for any legal restrictions, easements or leases that may exist on the property.   

Once a title agency has completed the necessary research they will issue a “title opinion letter” which will detail any issues that will keep the property from being sold, or the letter will state that the title is clear to be sold.  If there are issues they will work to correct them so that a clean title can be produced for the buyer. 

The next step for the title agency is for them to handle all of the legal paperwork to transfer the title to the new owner.  This may include explaining any asements,
leases or other issues to each party. They will also prepare a closing statement which will detail all of the legal aspects of the transaction, including the lender charges, title fees, taxes, commission fees, survey fees, required taxes and any other costs associated with the transaction.  

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Ultimately the title agency will collect the buyer’s money (generally from the mortgage company), pays off the sellers expenses and pays all of the expenses related to the transaction.  After all financial transactions are complete they also record all of the legal documents at the county level and present the new owners with a deep to the property.  

As you can see a Title Agency is very important to a real estate transaction, and it is important that you have a reputable and trust worthy agency working with us as we complete your real estate transaction.  

Carol Murphy

Keller Williams – Carol Murphy Team

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