From: sufaud@hotmail.com (Sufaud)
Newsgroups: misc.invest.real-estate
Subject: Re: Neighbor selling and doesn't seem to be the legal owner - Need some advice.
Date: 13 Oct 2003 05:43:58 -0700

steelvest@hotmail.com (SteelVest) wrote in message news:...


> If the Seller is acting as a trustee, that is the capacity in which he
> will enter into an agreement of sale.

The trustee is the "legal owner". The person entitled to the benefit 
of the property is the "beneficial owner".

Unless it's a bare trust (sometimes called, especially in England, a
"trust for sale") the circumstances under which the legal owner can
sell the property, and what happens to  the proceeds, depends upon the
terms of the trust.

The title company insures that the title transferred is "good title".
Even if you're paying all cash you MUST get title insurance (in some
places, like Virginia (and England), your lawyer does the work and has
a blanket policy, as I recall). The title insurer's rep is not a
lawyer but does this thing day in and day out, and will know what
documents to demand.

The story is somewhat different when you buy shares in a corporation,
or an LLC, that owns the property, because then you are buying
personalty and not realty. The title insurance policy originally
bought is still valued but may have to be upgraded if the property has
appreciated. And in some jurisdictions (DC ...) there is a transfer
tax just as if the property itself had been sold.