Insomnia

Here is the thought that jerked me out of sleep at 4:00 a.m. this morning: Do you really need a title company to make a property transfer?

As I lay there thinking, trying to follow the trail of selling and buying real estate and where the role of the title company fits in, I began to suspect that the answer was no.

I got up to do some research. After removing the latest gift from the cat (two mice in one night) from the living room floor, I sat down at the desk and let my fingers do some walking on the computer keys.

A contributor on Quora said that any document in writing, that specifically indicates the grantee and grantor, the property, consideration (usually payment), and is signed by the grantee, is all that is needed to transfer property. No lawyer, no real estate agent, no title company is mandatory for the transaction.

Notarize the document and file it with the county clerk's office and you've just completed a transfer of property.

To push my point further, there was a piece of property that I was interested in at tax sale, so I went to a title company to see if the deed was clear. I made it clear I wanted to pay for the service, but was told I could look up the title history myself in county records (Texas File). I ended up buying the property at the sale and the only thing needed to transfer it to me was to pay the appraisal office. The deed was then mailed to me.

I will concede that some properties are tricky, and I was glad to use a title company to track a particular parcel that I wanted to purchase. The owners lived out of county, making self-researching difficult, and a title search revealed that the property was tied up in a bunch of liens from the state. I decided that the low cost of the property was worth taking a chance on it if I ended up losing it. The title company drew up the deed transfer, as well as running the title search, for no charge. Unfortunately, the owner died before I could complete the transaction, further complicating the deal. After all was said and done, I didn't buy the lot.

The final answer is you can do your own land deal, if you are sure about the property history and can draft a simple document. There are other situations, more complicated and with more risk (higher price), where other legal foundations are needed for a sound investment.