We all like to save a little money and perform the work ourselves instead of hiring someone else to do it, but that’s not practical in all situations. Sometimes the work is simply best left to the experts. One such task is a commercial title search.
You may think that title searches are pretty basic or that you could figure out how to investigate a title on your own, but there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to a title search. In today’s blog, we share five reasons why you shouldn’t perform your own title search.
Why You Should Outsource A Title Search To A Pro
Let’s look at some of the reasons why a title search is better left to the professionals.
- Information Is All Over - You’re not just going to be able to waltz down to city hall, ask for title records and have them hand over a neat stack of papers that clearly lays out everything you need to know. You’re going to need to reach out to a number of different parties in order to get all the relevant information, and that’s not easy if you’ve never investigated a title before.
- Verify Legitimacy - With the rise of the internet, fraud and forgeries have become more common in the world of commercial real estate. Whether it’s naivety or lack of experience, it can be easy for buyers to overlook some signs of fraud during the course of their title investigation. Do you think you can tell the difference between a real deed and a fake one? Do you trust that all documents are legitimate? We know what we’re looking for, and we can help you avoid a potentially devastating financial scam.
- There’s A Lot On The Line - If you forget to put the oil cap back on when changing your oil, you’ll probably make a bit of a mess, but you’re not all that worse off. If you fail to do a key aspect of a title search, your commercial purchase may not be valid, and someone else may eventually be able to make a legal claim that they are actually the valid title holder. There’s so much at stake with a title search, and you can’t leave anything up to chance.
- Time Better Spent Elsewhere - A good title search will take time, and it will take even longer if you don’t really know what you’re doing. Your time and attention is better spent elsewhere during the due diligence phase. Let a team of professionals conduct an efficient title search while you tend to more pressing matters.
- Complex, Ever-Evolving Industry - The title world is complex and always changing. New laws and regulations are consistently being passed and updated, and while we work hard to stay up on the latest developments, it’s unreasonable to expect you to do the same. Being unaware of changes to ALTA endorsements or zoning regulations can come back to hurt you if you attempt to conduct a title search on your own. Let us put our industry knowledge and expertise to work for you.
Title searches are complex and time consuming, and so much is on the line that you need to know that it has been conducted correctly. Let us do that for you and provide you with a title insurance policy to provide additional protection for as long as you own the property. For more information on how we can help, connect with the team at Commercial Partners today at (612) 337-2470.