A crucial part of a real estate transaction is ensuring that clear and marketable title is passing from the seller to the buyer, which involves ordering a title search. The title search searches the public record to review the history of the property to ensure the seller has authority to sell the property and there are no title defects.
Examples of title defects include liens, violations, judgments, pending lawsuits, notices of commencement, prior defective deeds, or other issues that impact the property. Title defects may be against the property or only against the owner of the property.
The process of clearing title may involve contacting creditors, attorneys, courts, county or municipal governments, the IRS, and many other organizations and parties. It may involve negotiating releases of liens, judgments, and mortgages. Affidavits, corrective deeds, satisfactions, or other legal documents may need to be drafted and signed by the owner of the property or a third party. Almost no title search is the same and some can be very involved, which is why a real estate attorney is often involved in the process of clearing title.