Brent Stella and Angela Kneip Sept, 30, 2015 Chula Vista Resort Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

 Where are deeds and other legal documents stored?  What does a register of deeds do?  What is the instruments used to transfer title?  What is the difference between a Warranty deed and Quit claim deed?  Mortgages, assignments and MERS?  Assignment of Rents and Leases  What is a chain of title?  What is a break in title?  What are we looking for when we order title work for our projects?  Why do need title updates before we condemn a property? 2

 A title search is usually done by an abstractor, who summarizes the information as an abstract of title, which lists all recorded documents chronologically from the root to the present time, and lists all liens and encumbrances along with their current status. There is also a list of all public records that were examined in writing the abstract of title as a record of what was actually examined. 3

 Title records are public records, usually held at the county courthouse, which lists ownership, encumbrances, liens, and other real estate interests and their priority for each parcel of land within the county. Title records are maintained by recorders of deeds, city or county clerks, county treasurers, collectors, and clerks of court, and include written documents, such as deeds and mortgages, and other records, such as tax, marriage, and probate records, and judgments, that may affect the title of a property. Title records are important in establishing the ownership of a property, and provide notice of any encumbrances or interests held by 3 rd parties. Thus, these records are usually searched, often by title companies who ensure good title to the property, prior to the purchase of property.ownershipencumbrancesreal estate interestsdeeds and mortgagesprobate recordsjudgments 4

 County Treasurer  %2fGCSWebPortal%2fSearch.aspx %2fGCSWebPortal%2fSearch.aspx  Wisconsin Circuit Court Access:  B4B E78A.render6 B4B E78A.render6  Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions   Child Support Liens:   Register of Deeds Websites    Title Report  5

Recording is the deposition of written documents pertaining to a parcel of land in the public record, which, in most cases, is in the courthouse of the county in which the real estate is located. Recordings provide information for government authorities and prospective purchasers of any real estate in the county about the current owners, encumbrances, liens, and other interests in the real estate.  A warranty deed, a quit claim deed, a trustees deed and a personal representative deed are types of deeds commonly used to convey real property in Wisconsin.  Deed by corporation  Mortgage, assignment of mortgage  MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems ) 6

A warranty deed is a type of deed where the grantor (seller) guarantees that he or she holds clear title to a piece of real estate and has a right to sell it to the grantee (buyer). This is in contrast to a quitclaim deed, where the seller does not guarantee that he or she holds title to a piece of real estate. 7

A quitclaim deed is a type of deed that transfers an interest in real property, like a house, vacant land or a mobile home. The person giving the property is the grantor. The person receiving the property is the grantee. Quitclaim deeds are sometimes referred to as quit claim or quick claim deeds. A quit claim deed generally transfers whatever interest a party has in a property and does not warrant against title defects. 8

In real estate in the United States, a deed of trust or trust deed is a deed wherein legal title in real property is transferred to a trustee, which holds it as security for a loan (debt) between a borrower and lender. 9

The personal representative's deed takes place within the context of estate administration. The personal representative is someone who is appointed the role by a probate court. As the person authorized by the court to deal with the sale or real estate, the estate attorney is responsible for their legal representation in the sale. 10

A deed by corporation, is a type of special warranty deed used when an incorporated business is one of the parties involved in the transaction. 11

Is a debt instrument, secured by the collateral of specified real estate property, that the borrower is obliged to pay back with a predetermined set of payments. Mortgages are used by individuals and businesses to make large real estate purchases without paying the entire value of the purchase up front. Over a period of many years, the borrower repays the loan, plus interest, until he/she eventually owns the property free and clear. Mortgages are also known as "liens against property" or "claims on property." If the borrower stops paying the mortgage, the bank can foreclose. Banks often sell and buy mortgages from each other. An “assignment” is the document that is the legal record of this transfer from one mortgagee to another. 12

 Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. is the owner of record (or the owner's nominee) of the security interest arising from mortgages extended by lenders, investors and their loan servicers and recorded in county land records. By using MERS, the lenders and investors who are the real parties in interest avoid the need to file assignments in county land records, which lowers costs for lenders and, they claim, consumers by reducing county recording fee expenses resulting from real estate transfers [ and provides a central source of information and tracking for mortgage loans.security interest The issue of the ownership of the MERS system is blurred between the entities to the point that courts tend to confuse the eRegistry system with the nominee because they use the same "MERS" acronym. The MERS system is purported to have fulfilled the “Safe Harbor” requirements in the state-led Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA).fulfilled the “Safe Harbor” 13

An assignment of rents and leases is an assignment of a non real estate interest, even though the assignments are usually recorded in the Public Records. As a consequence, title insurers cannot insure the validity, enforceability or priority of the assignment or include the assignment as an insured document in Schedule A. So the ALTA endorsement insures against a defect in the execution of the assignment or the existence of a competing assignment recorded in the Public Records at the Date of Policy. 14

A chain of title is the sequence of historical transfers of title to a property. The "chain" runs from the present owner back to the original owner of the property. In situations where documentation of ownership is important, it is often necessary to reconstruct the chain of title. 15

 The examination of title to real property in a real estate transaction is crucial because a buyer or a lender needs to be assured that no one other than the seller or borrower has an interest in the real property. Title examination includes a review of the chain of title to ensure that a purchaser has “good and merchantable title” and that a lender has a valid and paramount interest in the real property, prior and superior to that of the borrower, other creditors and lienholders. A search with a “clean” chain of title is one with a trail of owners with no obvious breaks in the chain (skipping from one person taking title to another person conveying out) and being able to account for all previous owners by conveyance, records of death, foreclosures or divorces. 16

 The title report will reveal various liens, encroachments, easements and anything else recorded against the property. The title company compiles the report from a search of county records in order to issue title insurance, and any liens against the property are listed as “exceptions” to title insurance 17

Essentially, this means that we search the title records again to make sure that the nothing has been filed of record since the date of the commitment. Almost every time, that is the case. Nothing new since the commitment, so we move through the closing. But in this instance, STOP!!!! Our update search reveals two deeds filed during the two weeks since we had first issued our commitment. The day after the commitment, the seller had deeded the property to a corporation. Then, twelve days later, the bank had foreclosed. What does this mean? Bottom line, on the day of the closing, the seller no longer owned the property. The closing was cancelled. The buyers and lenders purchase funds were returned. This is why title companies update their title commitment prior to the final closing.

Brent L Stella Angela Kneip Real Estate Supervisor Real Estate Specialist NC Region, WisDot SW Region, WisDot  Other resources 19