Video Transcript:
Hello, this is Dave at TitleSearch.com. One of the most common questions that we receive as an inquiry is, what is the difference between the expanded title search and the basic snapshot title search? The biggest difference is on the basic search: you get a certified title abstract that shows the liens, mortgages, ownership of the property. It's usually one or two pages, like this. The expanded search, in addition to that, will also have this attachment of all these underlying documents. The reason why the expanded search costs a little bit more, $30 or $40 more, I think maybe $50, is because when we actually pull these copies from the land records office, the records room is charged a little bit for copies. It also takes a little bit more time in the records room to pull the documents from the deed books. If we do the basic search, we can review these documents in the deed books without copying them in the county offices. Taking the documents from the records from gives some advantages. First of all, we can get the search back to you faster because we can work on abstracting after-hours. The other advantage to you is you're going to have all of these terms and conditions on these documents in front of you. They won't show up on the basic search. Perfect example: this quitclaim deed has a small notation that says this deed is exempt from transfer tax under provisions of MSA 7.456. What probably happened is this is a family deed, so it's not subject to the terms of payment of a tax. Knowing that might be helpful to the next owner. You wouldn't know it from the names on it because there are two different names. In another example, this is a child support lien. Having this document as part of the expanded search will give you this breakdown line by line of that child support lien and when the interest, tax, and penalties accrue. So you'll know how much that lien is going to be a month from now, a week from now, where on the basic search, it'll just say as of that day, how much the lien is. Child support liens change all the time. This is an addendum that would be an expanded search showing a renewal and extension exhibit for a mortgage, knowing that that mortgage can be renewed. That might be helpful for an investor as well. This warranty deed as part of this search, if you notice, has about 10 signatures on it. That might be helpful to know what are the other parties involved? Who are they in relation to maybe a grantor or a grantee. The expanded search is going to have vast information in addition to the basic search. It'll show interest, penalties, easements, maybe purchase options, life estate, remainder interest. It gets back to you faster. It costs a little more because it takes slightly more time to pull the documents and there's some cost to the county. It's most common that in a two or three or four, $500,000 transaction, a client or an investor is going to want all the information possible. Usually, the basic search is ordered by maybe a mortgage company that already knows what the title record is. They just want to verify that these things are recorded. Getting the underlying documents can be helpful. If you only need the basic search because you know that your business purpose is covered, then we have that available. But if you're an investor or somebody who really needs as many details for due diligence as possible, the expanded search is most commonly the way to go. If you have more questions or would like to have a more detailed explanation of the difference, you can reach us at our website at title search dot com.