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Understanding Real Estate Deeds

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Published: 05Jul2009
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You have heard of Warranty Deed, Grant Deed, Quitclaim Deed, Trustee's Deed, Tax Deed, etc...

So what's up with all these deeds?

Let's start with the definition of "deed"...

"Property deeds are legal instruments that are used to assign ownership of real property, to transfer title to the land and its improvements such as a house."

So when you buy a house, you use a "deed" document to transfer property ownership.

Grant Deed: Think of Grant Deed as a way of transferring ownership of a property in California. The Grant Deed comes with some guarantees.

Warranty Deed: Think of Warranty Deed as the equivalent to the Grant Deed, but used in all other states but California. Also, a Warranty Deed comes with some guarantees (in general, more than the Grant Deed).

Quitclaim Deed: A Quitclaim Deed is a way of transfer ownership without any guarantees. Think of it as saying "I am transferring ownership of ANY interest I MAY possess in this property, but I am NOT guaranteeing any ownership."

So think of a Grant Deed and a Warranty Deed as being a "better version" of a Quitclaim Deed. They come with some guarantees that the Quitclaim Deed does not.

A Quitclaim Deed is mostly used in divorces, transferring property ownership between spouses, and for transferring property back and forth from your personal name to an entity. The latter is common when you have a property in an LLC for example, and you need to refinance, you can "quitclaim" the property ownership from your LLC into your name, refinance, then "quitclaim" back into LLC.

So what are all these other "deeds" you see out there such as "Trustee's Deed", "Tax Deed", etc? Well, they are other ways of transferring ownership in very specific situations.

For example a "Trustee's Deed" (really called "Trustee's Deed Upon Sale") is the transfer of ownership during a foreclosure auction (trustee sale) in certain states. The highest bidder or the lender gets the deed to the property from the trustee with this document ("Trustee's Deed Upon Sale"). This is used in certain states. Other states use other similar documents.

Another one is the "Tax Deed." This is used when property taxes are unpaid (the numbers of delinquent years vary from state to state), and the property is sold for the payment of back taxes, typically a tax deed is used to convey title to the buyer. Another one is the "Deed-in-lieu of Foreclosure."

Sellers who are behind in payments to the lender will sometimes negotiate with a lender to accept a Deed-in-Lieu of Foreclosure, which means the seller has deeded the property to the lender to avoid foreclosure.

So in summary, all "deed" documents are ways to transfer ownership, and each of these versions cover a specific scenario of transferring ownership.

Do NOT make the mistake of mixing "Deed of Trust" with the above however. A "deed of trust" is a LIEN against the property and has nothing to do with transfer of ownership. This is a very common mistake.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your Free Instant Access to my free audio CD when you visit http://www.BankFinancingSecrets.com From George Antone - A Real Estate Investor, Private Lender & Wealth Builder in Northern California.

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