Video Transcript:
Hello, this is Dave at Title Search dot com. A lot of times the question comes up about doing a title search online, or where can I get title records online? And let's talk a little bit about what that means. First of all, anytime real estate records are created, whether it's a deed, or a lien, or a mortgage, a document, a piece of paper is actually created by the parties. And part of that document is signatures. So when somebody says, I'm selling you a property, it has to be signed. In almost every state, there's a law called the statute of frauds. And that doesn't mean that it's a fraud. It just means that for real estate transaction to be legal, it has to be in writing. It can't be verbal. It can't be on a handshake,. It has to be in writing. So the Statute of Fraud requires that a property transfer on a deed has to be printed; has to be signed. So once that deed is executed, or a mortgage, or lien, or anything else, it's brought to the land records office in that county -maybe one or two places -and recorded as an official document. So in order to find out what the property title is, you have to go and look at all those documents and do a full title search and read each deed and mortgage to find out what all the terms and conditions are -make sure there's no exclusions from what that transfer is -and then create the title report. Well, what if you could access that information online? And there are some places where you can say, "Well, I'm going to get that information online. I don't want to go down to the courthouse. I just want to sit in the comfort of my home and look it up on a computer. Everything's electronic these days, right?" So why couldn't you do that? Well, here's what you get. If you go down to the records office or have a certified title examiner create a title report for you, this is the information you'll get. You'll be able to read through all the terms and conditions on a deed. This is the same deed represented in online records. One line. That one line has three pieces of information. It says the name of the seller, the name of the buyer, the date, and the amount. So you might think, "Well, that's great. This buyer bought the property, so the title should say that they're the owner." Well, if you actually read the deed, it'll say on the deed a few things. First of all, that this property is free from liens and encumbrances except for... and it's got a whole list of things that aren't included in that transfer. So unless you actually did a full in-person search, and you just did an online electronic search, you wouldn't know about those encumbrances or exclusions. There's also a reference to... there's a limit on farming or forest practices. It could be any number of things. It could even say that after a certain number of years, the property transfers back to somebody else. So doing an online search is going to have limitations. What else does an online search say? Well, here is a printout from a website from an actual county record source, meaning that this is not a third party private source just giving you maybe sketchy information. This is the county record source. So if you go to even the county's own website to look up online records, it's going to tell you a couple of things. And before you are allowed to search, you have to hit accept, saying you I understand this. First of all, all information provided on this internet service is provided as is with no warranties expressed, limited, what have you. It does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the records. Right. The data on this site is not the official record of the clerk's office. That means this is not the official title record. They could have errors. It also says it's not to be used for any official purpose. So even the county itself is telling you, look, if you want something for real, do it in person. Use the official records. Don't use the online records. And then beyond that, there may be even third party private companies that will sell something that's online, call it a title search, and not have the information you want. A real and true title search, you should be asking for a "certified title abstract". Make sure that that's what you get, a "certified title abstract". That means that a title searcher is that's been qualified as a researcher has physically looked at official records. They've created what's called the title report or title abstract, and you know that the process that's being used to do that is something that is accepted in the industry. And more importantly, that the official records were used. If you have more information on how to run a title search, what should be included, or even if you're looking at one and want to know what things mean, you can reach us at our website at titlesearch.com. And just because it's a website, and it's a dot com, doesn't mean it's an online record. We actually just use a website to present information to you that we can provide a title search in person to you. We scan in the documents just like this, and we send it to you by email. It's the same exact report we would send to an attorney, a title company, a mortgage companies, even government agencies. It's the same exact report. We just provide it to you through the website, but it's not an online title search. The bad news is, that means it's not going to take 2 seconds to get a search. It's not an online record that pulls up. You can order it online, but what happens is we go down to the records rooms, pull the records in person, read through them, see what they mean, and give you a report. If it's important enough, a transaction for you to understand about the property, that's the way to do it. If you do just need some basic information, online records might be useful, but just understand the difference between what you're getting and what you need.