What is a title commitment? What is a survey? What should you watch out for in a title commitment? We talk with Mindi McLain, attorney and co-owner of Wright Law.

You can read this entire interview here: https://bit.ly/3jdLsLz

What is a title report? What is a survey? And what does it do for you when you're purchasing a property?

Title work means you're looking back in the records, so that when you buy a piece of property, you know that you have good title to, that you'll become the owner and you know exactly what is going to affect that property. There are lots of different things you can order from a title insurance company. Some people will call it a title report, some people will call it a title run. Most often what you want from them is what's called a title commitment. A title report is usually just a short one or two page document, it says title is vested in this person or entity. Here's the legal description and there might be a lien against it. 

A title commitment is the most comprehensive title instrument that you might want if you're going to look at buying a property and most contracts are going to reference a title commitment. The title insurance company that you choose will take your contract, open title on it, and they'll look at who the owner is, what sort of easements, encumbrances, liens, problems are out there, and what needs to be done or fixed before closing, so that if you're the buyer, when you close, you have good title to the property. And when that commitment then closes, it becomes what's known as title insurance.

Surveys go hand in hand with the title commitment, but that's actually sending a licensed surveyor out to their property to look at what's on the ground. The title commitment doesn't do that, the title examiner does not visit your property and actually take a look at it. They're just looking at records, whatever is publicly available, but the surveyor is actually going to go out and visit your property, he's going to measure whatever you ask him to, the boundaries, or the improvements that are there.

What are some of the things that people should really watch out for in the title report and the survey?

I spend most of my time reviewing Schedule B, those are the exceptions to the policy, followed by Schedule C, the requirements. The first mistake that people make is getting the commitment, and not even really reviewing it or never getting past Schedule A. The second thing that they do is they review Schedule B, but they don't really dig into what it says. So it's going to say, these are things that are excluded from your policy, it's not going to give you the whole summary and analysis of what those things are. If you don't ask, what is that document recorded you'll never know what that document said. There could be an easement recorded, a lease recorded, or a deed recorded. But you'll want to ask the title company for copies of those documents.

This is where the survey can come in handy. If you get a title commitment, and it has 18 easements listed, or it has a right of way deed or something like that, your surveyor can take that Schedule B and those documents and he can locate those easements or those roadways on the ground, and then show you where they are on your survey. 

The same with the survey, if you get it back and you have questions, you want to make sure your title commitment and your survey go hand in hand and that your surveyor has actually reviewed your title commitment and that he or she has included those documents that need to be included on the survey. That way you know where it's at, and your survey can actually be part of your title insurance.

Mindi McLain

www.wrightlawtx.com

[email protected]

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