Real Estate Services

It is the land and all that is attached to it (like a house) and everything underneath it (like minerals).

Because you are likely to do it wrong.

The legal description must be exactly right. The name of the person executing the deed must track exactly how the name was written when they received their deed. Did you miss an initial? Then you did it wrong.  

Did you remember to recite the marital status of the party receiving the deed? This is a community property state, and if you left off the marital status, that is a mistake. 

A deed to two or more people can be written to where they can give away their share under their will or written to where the last surviving person gets it all. Not sure how to do that? Then you probably did it wrong. 

Real estate is uniquely picky stuff in our society, and it is easy to get it wrong. It is cheaper to get it done right than to try and fix it afterward.

It is unfortunately common that grandparents owned land or minerals years ago (the 1920s!), and when they passed, there was never a probate. Meanwhile, their five kids had five kids each, and half the people passed away (with no probates). If there are no probates, then there is no paper trail of who owns what. Present day, someone either wants to drill an oil well, or someone just wants to figure out who owns how much of the land. To sort this out, we file a Quiet Title lawsuit. The suit is to quiet the title of ownership in the proper persons.

If you buy a house, then you get a deed of ownership, and the bank puts a lien on the house (the mortgage) to secure repayment. Under a real estate contract, the buyer does not get the deed of ownership until the last payment is made. That is why the buyer should use an escrow company; they hold the deed and give it to you when the last payment is made.

If you fail to make the payments on a real estate contract, the seller can default you and get you out in 30 to 60 days, and you lose all of your payments. In contrast, if you do not make the mortgage payment, the lender has to take you to court to take the house back.