Just a public service FYI

[Oddball]

I'm a real estate title examiner, but not a lawyer. I just finished a search on a house that was built in 1992. The deed to the builder had an incorrect legal description that was never corrected and therefore technically when the builder sold the house in 1993 they sold property they'd never owned. To complicate matters even further, the last two deeds, a foreclosure last year and a subsequent deed from the bank that foreclosed to Fannie Mae both had yet another mistake in the legal description. Please, Please, when you purchase a home don't trust that everyone has done their jobs properly in preparing the deed(s). Read the deed and verify the info yourself before you close. Make sure names are spelled correctly and if you have a common name please ask that you're middle name or initial is put on the deed(s), it could possibly prevent unnecessary delays when searching for liens, etc. Also make sure the lot number and subdivision name are correct, along with the address on the loan documents. If anything on your deeds is wrong, it will have to be corrected if/when you sell the property and that can take a lot of time and even cost you money to correct. Mistakes happen and sometimes its just a typo, but I see it all to often where incorrect deeds are never corrected and have seen chains of title going back 40 years that have the same mistake just passed forward on each deed. Getting an attorney to admit he/she made a mistake in preparing a document, and then to actually correct it, can be like pulling teeth. Catch mistakes before they happen whenever you can.

 

[RobertBrown]

Good information, Oddball.
And much appreciated, I've been looking/shopping for additional real estate as of late so I can use the help.
Thanks