I just got off the phone with a title company.
It turns out that they needed my help in getting some title stuff done for a property I sold 3 years ago.
Ya see, the property was inherited, but I made the mistake of not included the paperwork to show proof of that.
To give you a bit of background, the property itself was located in county A, but when the owner died, they lived in county B.
What was supposed to happen was that whoever handled the estate for the deceased owner was supposed to alert county A about the passing and new owner.
They did not do that (which is common)
My job as a land investor is to do some of that work so the title is clear.
Im a lil embarrassed to say, I also didnt do what needed to be done.
Because of my mistake, the title is now cloudy.
Dont get me wrong, this is easy to fix…
More importantly, I stop making such mistakes (this deal was one of the first that I did when I restarted land investing, so I was rusty)
Anyway, since I had records of the conversation I had with the owner and I had copies of the paperwork proof of inheritance, I was able help solve the issue for the title company.
This is what I want you to take away from this…
Always “show your work” meaning, when you are self closing, have proof and a clear paper trail of how property gets passed from one person to the next.
That transfer can be from a sale, inheritance, tax deed…whatever…
There needs to be clear chain of title to show that stuff….which could mean getting documents recorded in the county where the land resides.
As long as someone can see how the property ended up in your hands, everything is all good.
Next, keep good records of your deals and transactions, so if you need to go back to see how something was done for legal purposes, you can do so.
Last thing, we all make mistakes, but every mistake can be fixed in some shape or form…so never panic if you made a mistake.
Just be a stand up guy/gal and do what you can to make it right (then learn from the mistake to not do it again!)
-Coach Vic