Real Estate Law

A lien is a fee assessed against your home in order to collect payment for an outstanding debt. A lien can be placed on your home from the IRS, state or county tax office, a contractor, or a...

A quitclaim deed is the quickest and most hassle-free way to sell a piece of real estate. The quitclaim deed means that the buyer takes the property as is, with no guarantees or warranties...

The title to a property provides a legal description and information on the owner and seller. After the purchase of a home, it may be necessary to add an owner or make corrections. A quitclaim...

Real estate is often intertwined with lawsuits of many varieties. Some lawsuits are disputes over title to real estate, while others simply result in liens, constructive trusts or other legal...

Changing the name on the title of your home can be a simple or complicated process depending on whose name to which the title needs to be changed. Are you changing your own name due to a legal...

Property law in common law countries such as the U.S. and the United Kingdom is ancient and arcane compared with other branches of law. In particular, special laws apply to the sale of land that...

A warranty deed is a contract which both gives ownership of land from one party (the seller) to another party (the buyer) and guarantees title. People sometimes find the need to change a warranty...

Buyers obtain legal title to a piece of real estate by means of a deed from the seller. The two primary forms of deeds are the quit claim deed and the warranty deed. Although warranty deeds convey...

Learning to title search is a valuable tool if you are interested in buying or selling real estate. Generally, liens and other restrictions on land are recorded on the title to that land....

The warranty deed has a rich history. Until the last part of the 17th century, deeds did not have to be in writing, but as reading and writing skills became more common, the written deed became...

When you have a contract on the sale of your real estate, you will need to order a title commitment. This is to prove that you have title to the home and that it is free and clear of any liens...

There are different types of deeds associated with the transfer of interests in real estate. The most commonly used one is known as a warranty deed. Another type of deed is the quitclaim deed....

A quitclaim (not "quick" claim), or quit deed, is a deed of conveyance. It is used to transfer real property or an interest in that property to someone else. The deed is filed in the county or...

Home buyers must sign a number of legal documents and meet lender requirements before a mortgage is granted. Legal requirements and home-buying procedures vary by state, but many basic steps are...

Occasionally, you may want to change the name of the owner of a house that is listed on the deed for the property. This might be for inheritance of the house from a last will and testament,...

Quitclaim deeds are a way to transfer real property to another party and is often used among family members. For example, if a grandparent deeded property to an adult child and the child wanted to...

When a person sells a house, vacant land or other piece of property, there are certain requirements that must be followed. Most states require an affidavit of title. This article explains an...

Title insurance is a form of insurance that is unique to the United States. In general, title insurance insures real-estate owners against defects in title to their property and insures lenders...

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) offers two types of insured loans for mobile/manufactured homes. Title I loans are for the home only. Title II loans are for the home and the land on which...

If you are a property owner, or considering buying a piece of property, it may be important to know its history of ownership. You want to make sure there are no problems with the title that can...

A warranty deed transfers real property from the property owner to a named grantee. The grantor makes certain promises to the grantee called the warranties of title. If one of the warranties of...

Until the latter part of the 17th century, a conveyance of land did not have to be in writing. "Livery of seisen"--transfer of the land from one party to another--could be the result of an oral...

A quitclaim, or quitclaim deed, is essentially a mini-contract. It is a brief legal instrument that conveys the interest in a particular property of a grantor to a grantee. As the name implies, it...

A quitclaim deed is a document that transfers a grantor's interest in real property to the named grantee. The quitclaim deed gives no warranties of title to the grantee. If the grantor's interest...

A title company is often involved in real estate transactions. This type of company is hired to make sure there are no hidden or unknown problems with the transfer of the property title or...

The ownership of any property is part of public record and can easily be found in the records of whatever government agency in a locality is responsible for keeping such records. Sometimes this...

A grant deed is a legal document signed by the owner of real property stating that he (or a couple in the case of joint ownership) is the legal owner and that the property is being transferred...

law, also known as real property law, has a rich history dating back to feudal times in Great Britain, when the land rights of commoners were limited. In 1215, the Magna Carta removed many of the...

Homeowners who make a monthly mortgage payment do not actually own their home--a bank or mortgage lender does. With that in mind, a person looking to change the name on a property deed should...

Imagine buying and paying for a house or a piece of land only to find it was put up as collateral by the previous owner and is being repossessed right out from under you. Well, that wasn't all...

Rules governing real property titles fall under the auspices of property law. Current legislation requires a property's title to be free and clear of any claims before the real estate can be sold....

Property title is a legal construct representing all the possible rights related to ownership of land. These various rights can be bundled together for an exclusive owner, divided into equity...

If you are planning on buying or selling a home it is important to know what type of deeds are availiable and how they affect the buyer and seller. Here you will find an explaination of each. ...