Title vs Deed, Explained
In today’s real estate market
potential buyers and sellers can be confused on specific meanings of everyday
language or words used by REALTORS. Two of these words are “Deed & Title”.
I have been asked. “Are they
not the same thing?” This is a question we have heard several times in the
past.
A title and deed are similar
because they both involve property ownership, but they are very different as
well in overall intent.
In real estate Title is not
something tangible, it is a concept, meaning you own the right to something.
Having Title to a property
means you have certain rights to that property.
- Right of possession
-
Right of Control
-
Right of enjoyment
-
Right of disposition
-
Right of exclusion
A Title is simply the concept
that is used to discuss ownership of a home or property.
The Deed on the other hand is
the tangible document which proves the ownership of property. It spells out the
description as well as location and other information pertaining to that
property. Size, persons involved, time sold, etc.
Say for instance there was a
dispute of ownership of a certain tract of land. The individual could say “this
is my land, I bought and paid for it” without a deed there would be no way to
prove this claim. The Deed is basically a receipt as well as a proof of
ownership. It not only transfers the Title from the seller, which in Real
Estate is known as the Grantor, to the buyer who is known as the Grantee, it
also proves ownership.
The Grantee receives the title
to the property and the deed at the closing of the home or property buying
journey.
In short, the Title is used to
say you own the property, the deed is the legal document proving you own the
property.