What Can I Expect From A Title Search?

When you’re thinking about buying a piece of Westport CT real estate, you may assume that the property you’re looking is owned by the person who claims to own it, but that may not always be true.  In fact, there are times and circumstances where the owner of the property is not involved in the listing at all and you could be going down a path that will leave you heartbroken when you find out the true property owner does not want to sell the home.   While this is not a typical situation, it does happen and you will want to protect yourself from any unforeseen situations arising, like the one described above.

Enter, a title search.

When you find the perfect home and begin the process of buying it, one thing that will be done is a title search.  The title search is just that, it is a lookup of public records to insure that the property does match the public portrait of it that is being presented by the seller.  A title search is generally conducted by an abstractor who will dig through public records and pull together all of the information that is publicly available on the property to get a clear picture of the property and its history.  Some of the things an abstractor will be looking for include;

1.) A list of all the documents that are associated with the parcel of land in chronological order.

2.) Information on the current and previous owners of the property.

3.) Details of surveys of the property that have been done in the past.

4.) Easements that cross the property will be detailed.

5.) A description of any wills or lawsuits that involve the property.

The abstract of the property will also flag any issues that may arise for you after purchasing the property if there are financial issues for the property owner that include things like liens on the house, outstanding property taxes or details of any easements on the property.  These are all incredible important pieces of information to have before you finally decide to purchase the parcel of land from the current owner.

Depending on the history and complexity of the parcel of land, a title search can take quite a while to complete, but typically in a relatively straight forward title search the process should take between 1-2 weeks.

When you get to the point of being ready for a title search on your piece of Westport, CT real estate I will be by your side to answer any questions that you might have on the process or the details of the search.  It can be an uneasy thing to wait for a title search to come back, but with experts by your side you can be confident in the results of the search and the future of your ownership of the property.