| As soon as you buy real estate, it's a must | | | | |
| to register it at the recording office or | | | | 2. Recording |
| wherever real estate transactions are | | | | |
| registered in your particular jurisdiction. | | | | The recording office will copy your deed and |
| If you don't, you could end up losing title | | | | put it into their Official Records in |
| to your real estate due to the misconduct of | | | | numerical order. So you might end up |
| the previous owner or even due to a mistake. | | | | recording your deed, for example, in Volume |
| If you have bought property (as opposed to | | | | 452, Page 209. |
| leasing it or accepting a mortgage on it, | | | | |
| both of which can also be recorded), you will | | | | 3. Indexing |
| need a properly executed, acknowledged, and | | | | |
| delivered deed to your property. In some | | | | It may have occurred to you that recording |
| states, a mere contract for the sale of real | | | | deeds in strict chronological order can make |
| estate may be recordable, but since you're | | | | a deed almost impossible to locate if you |
| going to end up with the deed anyway at the | | | | don't already know the date upon which it was |
| closing of the transaction, recording your | | | | recorded. That is why the recording office |
| deed is usually the best idea. You will have | | | | also prepares a set of indexes recording |
| to have your deed notarized. | | | | information about each document for easy |
| | | | reference. Your deed will be recorded in a |
| 1. Filing | | | | grantor-grantee index which alphabetically |
| | | | lists recorded documents according to the |
| The clerk at the recoding office will not | | | | grantor's (normally the seller's) name and |
| check to see if your deed is valid, or even | | | | the grantee's (usually the buyer's) name, |
| whether you actually own the property. - that | | | | along with the volume and page numbers where |
| would only be investigated during legal | | | | a copy of the deed can be found. It might |
| proceedings in case a dispute arose as to who | | | | also include a description of the deed and |
| owned the property, etc. All the recording | | | | the property. The recording office will |
| office does is keep the document and make it | | | | probably also maintain a grantee-grantor |
| available to people who need it. The only | | | | index alphabetically arranged by the buyer's |
| thing the clerk will check is what kind of | | | | name. |
| document you are recording. | | | | |