The warranty deed is arguably the most commonly used type of deed in real estate transactions - selling, buying, or transferring. Its wide acceptability can be attributed to the specific guarantees and promises included in warranty deeds.
Ensuring your financial protection when buying a house or any real estate property is extremely wise. One of such ways to ensure your protection during these kinds of transactions is using a warranty deed.
This leads us to specific questions, such as what is a warranty deed, how to get a warranty deed, how the warranty deed works, etc.
What Is a Warranty Deed?
A warranty deed is a legal document between a real estate seller and buyer stating the seller’s promises to the buyer during the transfer of property rights. These promises include that the property title is free from liens, encumbrances, and mortgages.
Otherwise called covenants, there are six major promises contained in a warranty deed: three are future covenants and three present covenants . The major difference between a warranty deed and a quitclaim is the degree of guarantee involved. Warranty deeds offer more protection than quitclaim deeds.
While warranty deeds are typically used for traditional real estate transactions, quitclaim deeds are used when the transaction is amongst family members, heirs, and beneficiaries.
Here is an article to learn more about warranty deeds.
How To Get a Warranty Deed – Step by Step
As mentioned earlier, you need a warranty deed when buying, selling, or transferring the ownership of real property. Whether you are the buyer – grantee – or seller – the grantor – the warranty deed comes in handy.
As a grantor, you can get a warranty deed at the office of a local realtor or using any online warranty deed template. Before reviewing the step-by-step process of how to get a warranty deed, ensure the property doesn’t have claims, encumbrances or liens . You can find this by searching online public records.
Public records often display all crucial documents of real property, including tax reports, mortgage reports, title history, liens, and others. This simple search can offer you the assurance and peace of mind needed to get a warranty deed for such a property.
Having understood these basics, let’s discuss the step-by-step process of how to get a warranty deed:
Step 1: Get a copy of the property’s current deed.
This is needed if you don't have a copy of the property's current deed. You can find a copy of the current deed by visiting the county clerk's office where the real property is located.
Step 2: Specify the date.
Write out the date of the warranty deed. This should include the year, month, and day in any format. A dated warranty deed helps preserve the title history of such property.
Step 3: Fill the warranty deed’s grantor section.
The grantor is the current owner(s) of the real property. Information needed in this section includes the legal name of the grantor, the grantor's current address. Should there be more than one grantor, each of their names should be added, plus their respective current addresses.
See Warranty Deed Pricing by State
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Step 4: Fill the warranty deed’s grantee section.
Grantees are the buyers or receivers of the real property. Information needed in this section includes the legal names of the grantee, the grantee’s current address. Should there be more than one grantee, each of their names should be added, plus their respective current addresses.
Also, for more than one grantee, ensure you state how each of them will receive ownership interest, respective ownership percentages that transfer to their heirs upon demise, etc. Each of these details should be filled out after each of their names.
Step 5: State the warranty deed’s consideration.
Consideration, in this regard, is the sum of money a grantee or grantees pay for the real property the warranty deed is developed for.
Step 6: State the warranty deed’s legal description.
A property’s legal description includes the measurements, boundaries, and dimensions of the property written in words. If the property’s size hasn’t changed, you can use the legal description used in the current warranty deed.
Step 7: Get the survey of the property.
This is needed if the size of the property under consideration has changed. Otherwise, you can use the survey used in the current deed. A local licensed surveyor can help you get the property’s survey. Insert the legal description provided by the surveyor in your warranty deed.
Step 8: Sign the warranty deed.
Ensure the grantors and grantees involved in the real estate transaction sign the warranty deed; otherwise, the deed remains invalid.
The deed must be notarized. That is, the grantor must sign the deed in the presence of a public notary and eventually be notarized by the notary. Contact the county clerk's office where the property is located to know the type of notaries allowed to notarize deeds and their locations.
Step 9: File the deed.
The final step to getting a warranty deed is filing. A valid warranty deed is filed in the local county clerk's office where the property is located. Without filing, the transfer of property rights or sales isn’t complete.
Here is an article about how to get a warranty deed.
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What’s Typically Included in a Warranty Deed?
The requirements of what to include in a warranty deed vary, mainly depending on the state the property is located. Nevertheless, there is certain information that’s commonly found in all warranty deeds. This information includes:
- The grantor and grantee identities and addresses.
- A detailed legal description of the property. This should include sewer lines, property lines, roads, and other defining properties.
- Conveyance words that show the seller grants the property to the property buyer.
- Proof of consideration.
- Grantor and grantee signatures.
Here is an article about elements included you should include in a warranty deed.
Types of Warranty Deeds
Understanding the types of deeds available is instrumental to effectively learning how to get a warranty deed. Typically, there are two types of warranty deeds , with each offering different extents of protection to the buyer and risk exposures to the seller. The two types of warranty deeds are general warranty deeds and special warranty deeds.
- General warranty deeds. Touted as the most commonly used type of warranty deed, the General warranty deed offers the buyer a higher level of protection. General warranty deeds guarantee the buyer will buy a problem-free property, regardless of the title history.
- Special warranty deeds. This type of warranty deed has a limited warranty. Special warranty deeds only guarantee the buyer that the property has no issues when the grantor (seller) owned the real property.
Here is an article about the types of warranty deeds.
Who Prepares a Warranty Deed?
As a buyer, the grantee, you can hire a real estate lawyer to help you get a warranty deed. However, as a seller, the grantor, you can simply use an online warranty deed template.
A warranty deed is generally obtainable through the office of a real estate agent or using an online template. Regardless of how you get a warranty deed, ensure both the grantor and grantee signed the document in the presence of a qualified notary.
Get Help with a Warranty Deed
So, there you have it! We have carefully examined vital information that would help you find how to get a warranty deed. This includes what exactly a warranty deed is and how it differs from a quitclaim deed, a step-by-step analysis of the process, what you should include in a warranty deed, etc.
If you need help with a warranty deed, post a project in ContractsCounsel’s marketplace to get bids from lawyer that work on real estate transactions. All lawyers are vetted by our team and peer reviewed by our customers for you to explore before hiring.
