The Title Search Process

A title search isn’t anything like a Google search – you can’t input an address into a search box and pull up all the information you need. There are multiple steps involved, and often more than one person performing the work. (Here’s how to search for a title searcher.)

Here’s what happens when you order a title search:

Checking Tax Assessor Records 

The tax assessor’s records provide crucial information, such as the property’s current and past deeds. These records are held at the tax assessor’s office in the county or city where the property is located. For some locales, this information is now available online, but it’s also common to have to call and request the records needed for a title search, and sometimes a title searcher needs to visit the tax assessor’s office. Pippin Title has a nationwide network of title searchers for those times when records must be retrieved in person.

Finding Deeds

Like tax assessor records, some deeds are available online these days, but we may need to contact the deed recorder’s office for instructions. There is sometimes a charge to access deed information, or the service may be free. The current deed, which should include the name of the individual or organization that currently owns the property, is the first deed we look for. This deed will reference the previous deed, which will reference the prior deed, and so on. It’s recommended that you find all of the deeds for a property’s entire existence, if possible, so it’s important to know the title searcher you hire is thorough.

Looking for Gaps in Ownership

With all the deeds in hand, a title searcher will examine them to ensure that the prior owner on each deed matches the previous deed and that there are no gaps or periods of time when ownership is unknown. Any interruptions in the chain of ownership can lead to the property not being free and clear, which opens up the possibility of claims on the property.

Checking Tax History

Next, we circle back to the tax assessor’s records to find information about the property’s tax history. Is there a lien on the property due to unpaid taxes? Even if the current owner doesn’t owe these taxes, it could allow the state or county to seize and sell the property to pay the outstanding taxes owed by the previous owner.

Looking for Judgment Liens

If the current owner owes a debt, a judgment lien can be imposed on the property; this means the property in question can be used as collateral. Even if the present owner did not incur the debt, the judgment lien is against the property, not the owner, and the judgment stands regardless of the current owner, which is why these records must be found before a transaction moves forward.

Finding a Title Search Company 

As you can see, there’s a lot involved in a title search, but at Pippin Title, we do all the legwork for you. An innovator by nature, our founder wanted to find a better way to perform title searches and thanks to a combination of proprietary technology and a robust network of on-the-ground title searchers, we’re now able to offer that to our customers. (Read more about how technology improves title search.)

Learn More About Pippin

Streamline your workflow and eliminate the hassles of title search with Pippin Title. To find out more about Pippin, contact us today or give us a call at 646-666-5993.

The post How Does a Title Search Work? appeared first on Pippin Title.

Last month, a historic winter storm raged over Texas, straining the state’s energy grid and leaving millions without power for days. The crisis shifted largely theoretical conversations about the role of renewable energy in the U.S. into harsh reality, as proponents and detractors alike wondered what a diverse grid would look like in Texas and across the nation.

An eventual shift toward renewable energy will require more than political agreement and progressive policy – it will also require huge tracts of land. In order to implement renewable energy projects and meet ambitious goals as quickly as possible, developers will need easy, efficient access to clear title information.

The Need for Renewable Energy

In recent years, we’ve seen more instances of extreme weather conditions, from raging wildfires to crippling heatwaves to destructive hurricanes. Most recently, a freak cold snap in Texas plunged the state into crisis-mode, as multiple energy sources failed.

While some blamed renewable energy, including wind and solar, for the system-wide failure, others say this recent crisis exemplifies our national need to invest more heavily in renewable energy. According to a MarketWatch article, “the blame for the Texas power crunch, at least according to early readouts from Texas utilities officials, and backed by analysts, was multifold. That fact alone should energize the pursuit of a diverse energy portfolio and upgraded grid to help the U.S. rein in emissions contributing to global warming.” Such a pursuit would align with the Biden administration’s energy policy, which calls for 100% clean electricity by 2035. 

The dual need to meet ambitious policy goals and prevent catastrophic, ever-likelier crises has led to a collective reassessment of how we source and use energy. 

Renewable Energy Requires Land

Renewable energies like wind and solar are desirable if we want to pursue clean energy and diversify national sources of energy, but they come with a catch: they require much more land than traditional power plants, which are powered by fossil fuels.

According to a Brookings whitepaper, “wind and solar generation require at least 10 times as much land per unit of power produced than coal- or natural gas-fired power plants, including land disturbed to produce and transport the fossil fuels. Additionally, wind and solar generation are located where the resource availability is best instead of where is most convenient for people and infrastructure, since their ‘fuel’ can’t be transported like fossil fuels.” Thus, the land needs for renewable energy are twofold: first, developers must identify huge tracts of land that are naturally optimal for collection of solar or wind power. Second, they must develop new power lines in order to transmit this energy, so citizens in densely populated areas can use it.

According to Brookings, “Transmission lines to move renewable power follow different paths than many existing lines, from areas of good renewable resources toward areas of strong power demand.” Replacing existing power sources with renewable ones is thus more complicated than simply replacing the content of existing power lines. Implementing renewable energy effectively requires considerable building.

Building Renewable Power Plants: More than Construction

Actually building renewable power plants and power lines is about much more than construction. In each instance, complicated land ownership issues can slow the construction process if they’re not clearly identified or accessed.

For example, creating a solar- or wind-fueled power plant requires huge swaths of land. That means existing tracts of land need to be redistricted for solar or wind use, then potentially sold off. In order to progress expediently, that process requires quick and easy access to clear title. Without understanding who owns the title to a given parcel of land, energy companies cannot begin construction.

Similar concerns arise when it comes to constructing power lines, which are critical in transporting renewable energy over long distances from less to more populous areas. This type of construction raises an important question: where do power companies have the right to build power lines?

The answer: it’s complicated. In some cases, power companies can build thanks to eminent domain, in which the government can compensate property owners for the right to use their land publicly. In other cases, energy companies might have the right to construct power lines in some areas, but not in others. If they could access the relevant title information quickly and clearly, they could move faster to implement these important projects.

Title: An Important Piece of the Energy Jigsaw Puzzle

The world is in a race against time. As climate change heightens the prevalence of extreme weather events around the world, citizens and governments must move quickly to reduce our collective carbon footprints and build a more sustainable world.

In the U.S., ambitious policy goals that prioritize the swift construction of renewable energy plants across the country pose multiple challenges. One challenge to the expedient shift to renewable energy centers on land title: a small but important piece in this massive energy jigsaw puzzle that affects how we all live.

Without quick and easy access to clear title information, projects that require huge areas of land, and which prompt complex questions about ownership and land rights, could stall. With software like Pippin’s, though, developers could move more quickly to access clear title information, so they can implement there ambitious projects more expediently.

Interested in learning more about how Pippin can expedite the real estate purchasing and development process across sectors? Reach out for a conversation today.

The post Wind, Solar…Title? Why Title Access is Critical in Expanding Renewable Energy appeared first on Pippin Title.