Real Estate and Home Mortgages - warranty deed

My son bought a home and closed at the end of june. I cosigned and was at the closing. Because they didn't give him a warranty deed, I asked and was told that it had to go to the county first and they would send him one the next week. 2 weeks later I called and was told that the warranty deed always takes 5-6 weeks to process :confused: Today when I called they said not to expect it until next month because "corparate" was slow. They did say I could go to the county property office and see about getting a copy from them.

I've bought and sold a 1/2 dozen or so properties in 2 different states. I always recieved the warranty deed at time of closing. Most of the properties I've bought have been cash sales and non went thru a mortgage company except for this one.

Is it normal not to recieve a warranty deed at time of closing? are they just feeding me a bunch of BS? am I concerned over nothing?

If you got one before at closing, it was just a copy. They aren't worth much unless filed and on record. Here, I get them back in about a week of closing. Contact your closing attorney, they may have a copy they can give you after it was recorded. Having the original doesn't really mean much, the recording does, but you should get that eventually. If you went through a large national lender, the wait time makes sense.

He didn't get a deed at closing, which was a first for me. They did say it was recorded [actually they originally said he'd get a copy as soon as it had been recorded] I was just mystified at going so long without getting one. I guess I'll wait, unless I have another need to go to the courthouse. For various reasons [you might remember from earlier posts] he plans to refinance later on - we definetly know who we won't deal with! :D

once again I appreciate your help/advice - thanks Bill

mark

Sorry folks but you should get a copy of the deed at closing. That is the only instrument used to transfer title to the new owner(s) and had better be on site at closing. If for some reason the origianl gets lost in the shuffle, I want a copy.

and to the thing not being worth much until recorded. That is often very incorrect. In some states, a deed is a deed. In some states, the first to record a competing deed makes the case. It varies.

as to what you get back from the county after recording; you are to get back the original deed, not a copy. The county keeps a copy of the deed (often merely digital recording or microfiche). The original deed is to go to the actual owner.

Now, the one thing that changes all of this, especially if you mortgaged the property; in some situations and states, a deed of trust is actually used to transfer the ownweship to a trustee (somebody in the lenders company generally) rather than the property being transferred to the new owner/resident via a grant or warranty deed. After the mortgage is paid off, the trustee then deeds the property to the owner/resident. I undersdtand this is the norm in california.

I've purchased property both in fla and tenn - and always got a warranty deed at closing. My son's property is also in tenn but has yet to receive a deed.

He got a fedex package yesterday from the title company. The enclosed letter stated that a lot of the paper work at closing was filled out incorrectly :confused: :wall: and we need to have all the enclosed papers signed in front of a notary.

I won't have a chance to see the papers until sunday after church - can't do anything until monday anyway :D

We often get 2 copies filled out, but retain one here in case the first one gets lost. Check with the county the transaction is taking place in, but the deed does need to be recorded or ownership and taxes will not be handled properly. There is no way this would close, with a mortgage, unless the warranty deed is filed. In the event of a cash sale, it still needs to be filed or you'll have one angry seller when they get a tax bill for property that's supposedly not even theirs anymore. ;) This isn't a car title.
Also for your own protection, by the way. If you have an unrecorded warranty deed, and the seller has a lien placed against them (such as for work on the house that went unreported and uncompensated) and the property is still seen as theirs--when you go file your warranty deed you'll have a nice mess to clean up due to an existing lien on the property. These things do happen. That's why warranty deeds are immediately sent to be recorded after closing.

RE: more papers to sign...
Sorry to hear that, especially this long after closing. That's more sloppy than odd. Are these closing documents, or the initial disclosures that they want re-signed? Sounds like they weren't able to sell the loan due to missing docs.

Supposedly the warranty deed has been recorded with the county although I've not went down there to verify it. The paper that needs signing/notorized is a Scrivener's affidavit. It's only 1 page [they included a copy, instruction letter and copy of 10 pages identical to what we all ready have]

Apparently the deed of trust didn't have the lenders name on it. I agree with your comment "That's more sloppy than odd" - not people I'd want to do business again with, or recomend to someone else!

Now I just have to find a notary that is convienent to my son's job [or after hours] so we can fedex the paper back to florida.

LOL, there's something almost ironic that the document they need signed is one that allows them to fix type-o errors on other documents.

I spent 30 minutes on the phone this morning with a guy from the title company. He said the local office was closed 2 months ago and he couldn't find any records other than there was a file somewhere with my son's name :confused: He told me to fax all the pertinent info to a girl in their fla office.

Well I spent over an hour trying to fax the info but it kept coming back that the number was busy. I finally got smart and picked up the phone while it was dialing the fax number and got a recording saying that number was no longer in service :eek: :wall:

So I found their national number and talked to a girl who said all those records were still in the tenn office which closed 2 months ago. She said they would contact me when they got those records.

I called our local county record office [since the girl was unsure if it had ever been recorded] and found out I can get a certified copy of the deed for $3 :D Guess where I'm going tommorrow ;)

I'm sure you all know there is 1 title company I'll never do business with again or recomend to any one!!!

Got a copy of the deed this morning SUPRISE SUPRISE while my name is on the mortgage [co borrower] is was specifically requested for only my son's name to be on the deed. The first page of the deed states that me and my son are joint tenants.... but the last page only has the seller's, my son's and notary signatures. :confused:

Oh well, I guess my son trusts me :D
hope he doesn't expect me to pay half of the mortgage :eek:

You can have an owner not on the loan, just signed off on deed of trust, but if on the loan, you're on the property as well. They aren't going to let you be co-borrower and act as if you have no interest in the property, that wouldn't make sense.

Ya, that makes sense. My son took the news better than I probably would have when I was his age ;)

I've also co signed on the mortgage for one of my stepsons, as far as I know I'm not on his deed but then I'm not sure if I've ever looked at it.