WARRANTY DEEDS

Warranty Deeds

Transferring Ownership from Grantor (Seller) to Grantee (Buyer)

Warranty Deeds
All deeds transferring ownership of real property have some basics. The grantor is the seller and the grantee is the buyer. Both are named on the deed so it is clear who holds ownership and who is receiving ownership. The property being transferred is also named by the legal description which is not always the address as with undeveloped land in rural areas the property does not have an address yet and would need to apply with the county for one. 

With a Warranty Deed, the seller “warrants” or guarantees that he / she is the rightful owner of the property and that no one else can lay a claim to the property and that he / she is transferring all their ownership rights to the buyer. A warranty deed also says that if there are any issues that arise from this transfer, the original seller will compensate the buyer and defend him / her against any claims.

There are several types of deeds, however, below are the two types of deeds LandBrand offers and a basic description of what each means.

Statutory Warranty Deeds

This is the strongest deed we can offer. It is based on the statutes of Washington State which is where our office is. It guarantees that the Title is free and clear of any liens or encumbrances forever and that if anything came up regarding Title issues that we would be liable to fix them.

Special Warranty Deeds

We offer this type of deed if a property had previously been through a tax foreclosure in the past. This deed guarantees the Title is free and clear during the time that we have owned the property. There may have been past liens on the property that were wiped clean during a tax foreclosure or federal liens that were not. We research all properties before selling them and make sure there are no liens during the time that we have owned the property.

After a tax foreclosure within the states specific time limitations there are only a few ways a property can be redeemed by the previous owner. The first of course is by paying their taxes, penalties, and any fees or interest accrued up-to-date with the county. Another is if the previous owner was deemed legally insane by the court and it is possible it must be the court in which the property lies. A property can also be redeemed if a minor held Title and there would be a process or time limitation to fix that, but the minor would be able to redeem the property though the legal process. I have also heard that it is possible that if the previous owner was serving overseas and lost the property due to their service then there would be an opportunity to redeem as well. All of these are very rare instances, but it is important to be aware of them for sure.
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