Home Title Certificates

When you own any piece of property, it's essential that you have your home title certificate accessible as often as possible. This doesn't mean that you need to keep it in your house or at the ready all the time. In fact, having it stored in a safety deposit box at your local bank can be a perfectly fine thing. However you do it, it's essential for you to have these very important documents safe and tucked away for future use. You may find that without these documents you're opening yourself up to a bunch of legal and financial issues.

What is a Home Title Certificate?

A home title certificate is a certificate that provides legal proof of your ownership over a piece of property. These documents are designed to provide verifiable evidence that you are indeed the person who owns a specific piece of property. Without a title certificate, you are leaving yourself open to many legal issues down the line and this can end up causing you many big problems in the future. These problems may be smaller ones like being unable to apply for a mortgage or enormous ones like a legal challenge to your ownership of your own home.

Why they Matter

Home title certificates are the only widely-accepted evidence of your ownership over a property in a court of law. If you buy a home from someone and do not have the title transferred to your name, then you do not necessarily own that home. Since they have the title, the previous owners can claim ownership over the home and even have you removed from the premises under certain circumstances. Without access to a title certificate or the means to have a new one put in place, you can be in a very tough position.

Home ownership in the United States is a lot like creative rights ownership in the country. If you pay someone to write a song for you in the United States, then you don't necessarily own the rights to that song just because you paid for it. In this example, you would need the rights of the song transferred to you by the owner of the song. The same can be said for title management in the United States. You can pay someone a million dollars for a piece of property, but the legitimacy of your ownership can still be questioned without that certificate.

Getting a New One

If you have lost your title certificate or it was somehow damaged, there are avenues you can take to get a new one issued to you. You'll generally need to work with a title insurance company on this and it can be a fairly drawn-out process. The title company needs to go through all the available public records regarding purchases made and names used at the address of your property. There needs to be a definite, verifiable chain of paperwork that links the property to you before a new title certificate can be issued to you. While this may seem like it's a bit over-zealous on the part of title managers, the truth is that it's necessary. People spend a lot of time and money on their property, so there needs to be an unbroken chain of evidence verifying their ownership of it. This protects you far more than it inconveniences you.

Most people will not have to deal with the "extreme" side of home title disputes. The vast majority of people will simply need them if they plan on borrowing against the value of their home or if they want to take on a second mortgage. It's just common sense to have this document available when you need access to it. This can end up saving you a lot of trouble and a lot of time while giving you a little extra piece of mind going forward.

To find a local title insurance company that can help you click here

In partnership with Healthy Built Homes