I finally got a clear title on a strip mall deal after 4 months of headaches

The problem was a utility easement from the 1970s that wasn't recorded right. The seller's lawyer said it was fine, but my lender's title company flagged it and refused to close. I had to track down old county maps and get a letter from the water district saying they had no active use for it. That whole process took about 3 weeks just to get the right person on the phone. Then we needed a title insurance endorsement, which added another 2 weeks of back and forth. All in, what I thought would be a 30-day close turned into over 120 days of pure stress. Has anyone else had a deal almost die from a vague easement issue like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

emma_murray494mo ago

Man, that easement stuff is the absolute worst. Those old records are a total mess half the time, and you never know what you'll dig up. It's crazy how a tiny line on a map from fifty years ago can hold up a whole deal. The worst part is you can't even see the problem when you walk the property. Makes you want to pull your hair out dealing with the county offices.

richard_west51mo ago

Wait, a QUITCLAIM from the 70s? That's wild. I figured most of those old records were either lost in a flood or sitting in some clerks dead filing cabinet. Honestly blows my mind someone actually found a 50 year old piece of paper that fixed things that fast.

angelacooper4mo ago

Tell me about it, @emma_murray49. I had a deal almost fall apart over an old sewer line no one knew about. What finally worked was hiring a local title researcher who knew all the clerks by name. She found a quitclaim from the 70s that cleared everything up in an afternoon. Sometimes you just need that insider who knows where the county actually filed the coffee-stained paperwork. Saved me weeks of headache.