What in the World is a Title Search?

Learn what a title search is and why you need one before closing on a home.

Buying a home can be a long and stressful process, especially when all you want to do is take the keys and start making your home a beautiful and comfortable space for your family. But before you can do this, you have to go through a property history search. This process to ensure that nothing goes wrong during your home buying experience, and if it does, you’re protected. Part of the home buying process you will need to go through is a title search. 

Title search gets thrown around a lot in the home buying process, which might leave you wondering what it is and why you need one. Fortunately, you came to the right place. Let’s start from the beginning and break down what a title search actually is.

A title search is the process of tracking down documents on a specific property. This helps to identify who has legal ownership of the property, and therefore, who has the right to sell this property. This process also tells us what types of liens and claims are on the property, what loans are on the property, and what taxes are due. 

A title search is typically done during the closing process before the transfer of ownership from seller to buyer is made, and it’s usually done by a title company, like Monarch Title. For the transfer of ownership to be made, the title search needs to be clear, but if your title search does have some problems, you can point them out to the seller before you close.

So why do you need a title search? The short answer is to protect yourself. A title search can unbury details, like hidden debts or liens, and can make your lender back out. After you fall in love with a home, the last thing you want is to learn you can’t have it when you’re so close having the keys in your hand.

You can do a title search yourself, but it can be time consuming, and with so many different legal documents, it can get confusing. Save yourself the headache and have your title search done at a title company, like Monarch Title. 

If you’re in the process of closing and need a title search, come to Monarch Title. We’ll make the title search process go as smooth as possible.