Transferring Title
Warranty
A complete historical summary of all recorded
documents affecting the title of a property.
Abstract Title
A legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties to do (or not to do) a particular thing.
Contract
When a borrower of property or mortgage fails to fulfill the terms of their loan or purchase agreement.
Default
The person who receives ownership of a property, essentially becoming the new owner or buyer.
Grantee
A person who transfers ownership of property to another party through a legal document, such as a deed.
Grantor
A chronology of successive owners of record of a parcel of real estate.
Chain of Title
Any change in the contract terms.
Counter-Offer
Money that accompanies an offer to purchase.
Earnest Money Deposit
Transfer of risk of defects (problem/issue) in ownership to an insurance company.
Title Insurance
A plausible appearance of ownership interest, often deemed legally invalid due to incomplete paperwork or flawed deed.
Color of Title
Notice given by the public records (recordation) and by visible possession (including habitation/posting), coupled with the legal presumption that all persons are thereby notified.
Constructive Notice
An agreement with no legal effect and is not deemed a contract.
Void Contract
A short, temporary purchase contract used to secure a real estate transaction until a more formal contract
can be developed and executed.
Binder
One party is bound but not the other in an agreement.
Voidable Contract
Unauthorized occupation of another person’s land for a period of time as required by law.
Adverse Possession
To stop claims to rights or interest in land that have been inactive for longer than the required governing entity’s statutory period.
Marketable Title Acts
An act intended to deceive for the purpose of including another to give up something of value.
Fraud
An attached document that adds specific terms, conditions, or details to a main contract, such as a purchase agreement or mortgage, without rewriting the entire document; it can address financing and property repair needs.
Riders
Used to express the mutual intention to buy, sell, lease, develop, or invest; often in commercial transactions and leases.
Letter of Intent
Requirement that transfers of real estate ownership be in writing and signed in order to be enforceable in a
court of law.
Statute of Frauds
A computerized book registration system of tracking the beneficial interests or “bundle of rights” connected with both residential and commercial real estate loans.
Mortgage Electronic Registration System
The act of coercing someone into signing a contract by using threats of harm, undue pressure, or unlawful restraint against their will; can issue a contract as voidable.
Duress
The equitable division of property expenses between a buyer and seller at closing, ensuring each party is only responsible for costs during the time they owned the property.
Proration
The addition to property by the act of attaching a smaller item to the larger property, as in attaching personal property to real property, thereby creating a fixture. The term is usually used to signify connecting a smaller item to a larger one.
Annexation