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[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Forum Board ] [ FAQ ] Comparing title searches—recorder's records vs title companies Posted by Ward-CA- on March 25, 2002 at 6:36 PM In Reply to: Title Searching: Where's the beef? posted by Sean Wagle on March 24, 2002 at 10:58 PM : I've seen Ward (and other authors) explain time and time again that there is no substitute for doing the title search yourself. : So it makes me wonder, what are we really buying for $200, when we pay for a "professional" title search? : Is this really just just a clerk at the title company, typing in the property address into a program... and clicking the PRINT button? Or does someone in fact spend a couple of hours RESEARCHING the title? : Is the title company privvy to other databases, or do they just pull everything from county records too? =•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•= Sean, what makes a title search that’s done at the county recorder’s office potentially more accurate than one done by a title company is the difference in their respective methods of indexing the county-wide title information in their databases. The recorder’s record is indexed separately by all the surnames of the parties listed on all recorded documents, whereas title companies index the records in their databases by the legal descriptions appearing on those documents. So when a document containing an error in its legal description is recorded it doesn’t prevent someone from finding it in the recorder’s record which uses a name index to research by. But title companies search and index by legal descriptions and therein lies their problem. Title companies can’t find such botched documents because when they inquire about all the liens against a certain property, their use of the correct legal description for the property, won’t disclose a pertinent document that contains a wrong legal description. The county recorder’s records are the official property records for the county they serve. So any document that can be found at the county recorder’s office, by using normal means, in accordance with the grantor/grantee name index, is going to be treated as valid, regardless of the fact that it may contain a wrong legal description. The reason is that it can be found by without any undue effort—therefore it really isn’t lost. You might wonder why title companies prefer to use the legal description as their searching index rather than sticking with the grantor/grantee name index. It’s because they can research the titles of property incredibly fast using the legal description, allowing them to get more work done with a lot less employees. Title companies also subscribe to services that provide them with property description data, delinquent property taxes, comparable property values, etc. Hope this helps. Follow Ups: What happens when the legal discription is correct and the name is wrong... Dave 8:50 AM, 03/26/02 (1) The recorder's record has more bites to the apple... Ward-CA- 1:43 PM, 03/26/02 (0) Post a Followup: Name : E-Mail : Subject : Comments: : : I've seen Ward (and other authors) explain time and time again that there is no substitute for doing the title search yourself. : : So it makes me wonder, what are we really buying for $200, when we pay for a "professional" title search? : : Is this really just just a clerk at the title company, typing in the property address into a program... and clicking the PRINT button? Or does someone in fact spend a couple of hours RESEARCHING the title? : : Is the title company privvy to other databases, or do they just pull everything from county records too? : =•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•= : Sean, what makes a title search that’s done at the county recorder’s office potentially more accurate than one done by a title company is the difference in their respective methods of indexing the county-wide title information in their databases. : The recorder’s record is indexed separately by all the surnames of the parties listed on all recorded documents, whereas title companies index the records in their databases by the legal descriptions appearing on those documents. : So when a document containing an error in its legal description is recorded it doesn’t prevent someone from finding it in the recorder’s record which uses a name index to research by. But title companies search and index by legal descriptions and therein lies their problem. : Title companies can’t find such botched documents because when they inquire about all the liens against a certain property, their use of the correct legal description for the property, won’t disclose a pertinent document that contains a wrong legal description. : The county recorder’s records are the official property records for the county they serve. So any document that can be found at the county recorder’s office, by using normal means, in accordance with the grantor/grantee name index, is going to be treated as valid, regardless of the fact that it may contain a wrong legal description. The reason is that it can be found by without any undue effort—therefore it really isn’t lost. : You might wonder why title companies prefer to use the legal description as their searching index rather than sticking with the grantor/grantee name index. It’s because they can research the titles of property incredibly fast using the legal description, allowing them to get more work done with a lot less employees. : Title companies also subscribe to services that provide them with property description data, delinquent property taxes, comparable property values, etc. : Hope this helps. Optional Link URL: Link Title: Optional Image URL: [ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Forum Board ] [ FAQ ] WWWAdmin 2.0a © 1997 Matt Wright and DBasics Software Company, All Rights Reserved

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