Posted by JPiper on February 12, 2000 at 21:33:04:
All property has a legal description. As an example, I recently sold a house with a lot adjacent to it. The description of this property was "Lots 7 and 8, less the North 10 feet thereof, block 1, East XXXXX, a subdivision in City, County, State.
Legally, this is the way the property is described as opposed to the more common description such as 138 XXXX Street, City, State.
If the owner looks at his deed he will have a legal description. If he doesn’t have a deed in his possession, a preliminary title report will have the legal description. In my area, the tax records will show a legal description, although it’s not wise to rely on the tax records here for this since at times it is not accurate.
Chances are that this would give the investor what he wants. If you have an accepted offer your next step should be to order a preliminary title report from your title company. This will not only give you a legal description of what the owner owns, but it will also show any liens outstanding that must be paid off with your purchase to obtain clear title.
Posted by John (Atl) on February 12, 2000 at 17:35:16:
Hello!!!
I’m new here and I find this site really awesome!! Keep up the good work!
Now I was wondering if anybody else could help me with a problem I have:
I just put an offer on a house and this house has a lot adjacent to it. The land is included in the ofer and the offer was accepted. In the offer I put the address of the house + lot touching it / adjacent to it in the direction of (and the name of the street here)…
The number of the lot is 86 and it encompasses all the houses built on that street.
Now I am calling investors who might be interested in buying the house from me (flip) and one of them asked me what is the number of the lot and I was at a loss. I didn’t know whether he was referring to the number 86 or the number in the sense of what would be the number of a house had there been one on it.
The owner of the house could not tell me what the number is. Is there any way I can check title to this land? I already searched octitle and I found nothing apart from title to the house. I even tried inputting different numbers to see if there was anything…
In any case, what can I tell the investor when he calls me back?
Did I put the right wording in the offer?
I appreciate any help…hopefully my explanation is clear enough.
Posted by Steve-Atl on February 13, 2000 at 13:37:39:
You need a title search unless you are getting financing on the purchase, in which case the lender will want it.
When I need a title search in Atlanta, I call Record Research in Buford, Ga. Ask for Dwayne Thompson. He is an attorney and is very helpful to investors like me.