A deed is a legal document that conveys ownership and proves ownership of real property. This document includes a description of the property and discloses all known outstanding liens or judgements.
Types of Deeds
General Warranty Deed
This type of deed is mainly used for residential purchases. Most lenders require it for financed properties. The deed is to offer the buyer protection from future claims against the title issues, regardless of when they occurred.
Special Warranty Deed
This type of deed is more commonly used by temporary owners, such as banks, who received the property through a foreclosure. It assures that there are no encumbrances of the property during the current owner’s ownership of the property. However, It does not protect the buyer from anything that transpired before ownership.
Quitclaim Deed
This type of deed is used to transfer title of a property, without any amendments or additions. Quitclaim deeds are often used between family members or to fix an error in the original title.
Deed in Lieu
This type of deed is an agreement where the seller voluntarily turns over ownership of the property to the lender to avoid the foreclosure process and to wipe out the mortgage debt. The amount of time and legal fees of the foreclosure process would be hurting both parties.
Trust Deed
This deed is used for home loans and is signed between three parties: a lender, a borrower and a trustee, usually a title company. The trustee holds the title until the borrower has fully paid off their lender. But if the borrower fails to pay, the trustee can sell the property and use the proceeds to repay the lender.
Mortgage Deed
This type of deed features two parties, a lender and a borrower. Title in the property is split evenly between the lender and borrower until the mortgage is paid in full. After the mortgage is satisfied, the title goes solely to the homeowner, who no longer owes any debt.
Bargain and Sale Deed
This type of deed transfers title to the buyer, but doesn’t warrant against encumbrances. Buyers who purchase a foreclosed property with a bargain and sale deed may encounter tax liens or third party claims to the title.
To avoid problems with any of the aforementioned deeds, buyers should perform a title search, acquire title insurance and be in contract with a real estate attorney before purchasing any property, particularly one that was in foreclosure.
