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You closed and have been handed the keys to your new home. Home ownership comes with a lot of responsibility and work. Once the deed is recorded in the county records, you can expect an avalanche of junk mail, which often pretends to be from your lender or some official office in the county or state.  

If you did not get a home warranty, then definitely do not ‘renew’ one in the mail.  Junk mailers will send fake checks or anything to get your attention to sign up for their service or pay a fee for a service you do not want.  

Do not pay anyone to get a copy of your deed. You will receive the original recorded deed from your closing attorney a few weeks after closing.  When you receive that deed, make sure your name is spelled correctly.  It is easier to correct any errors right away as opposed to years later.  

If you own the property with another person, make sure the tenancy is what you want. If the deed simply lists the two buyer’s names, then title is held as tenants in common. This tenancy means that if one owner passes away, the person’s heirs would inherit ownership. If the deed states the grantees are ‘joint tenants with right of survivorship, ‘then the surviving owner would own 100% of the property if the other owner passed away. (Georgia does not recognize ‘tenants by the entirety,’ which does exist in other states.)  

Once you receive the deed, file for your homestead exemption if you are living in the house. The exemption is through the county tax assessor and has firm deadlines. Missing the deadline can cost thousands of dollars. The county will cross-reference your address with the DMV, so make sure you update your address on your driver’s license and any car registrations.  

John C. Bennett is a real estate closing attorney and owner of Origin Title and Escrow, Inc.. Since 2003, Origin Title has handled real estate transactions – purchases, refinances, reverse mortgages – quickly and professionally. There will be no surprises, nothing misunderstood. Title searches are thorough and well-reasoned, to avoid unpleasant surprises later down the road. Calculate your closing costs in Georgia or Florida using our calculator or contact Origin Title using this form.

It is exciting to move into a new home, but it’s also a lot of work.  Hiring movers is extremely helpful, but there is more involved than simply moving furniture.  

The first step should be to get all the utilities set up or transferred into your name.  The seller will close their accounts for water, gas, and electricity. It is important to make sure those stay on, especially in cold weather.  Coordinate with the seller to transfer accounts if you plan to use the same utility provider. 

Second, change the exterior door locks, because you don’t know who has keys to the house.  A locksmith can often rekey the existing locks with new keys, so you won’t have to install all new hardware.

Check the smoke/carbon monoxide detectors and replace the batteries.  Don’t set yourself up to need to find a smoke detector in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar house if the battery goes out and starts beeping incessantly. Batteries seem to fail at 3am.  Learn where they are as soon as you move in. 

Change your address with all your accounts, especially banks, financial institutions, and government agencies such as Social Security, so your private information doesn’t accidentally end up in the hands of your old home’s new owners. Also, make sure to change your address with your healthcare provider, life insurance, voter registration, the IRS, and your employer.  Be aware that mail forwarding takes an additional two weeks or more to receive.

If you have the luxury of waiting to move into the house, it is a good idea to get it professionally cleaned and painted before moving in. Both cleaning and painting are much easier to do in an empty house, and the results will be more thorough.  

Use that excitement to get to work on moving. It is exhausting to move, but it is also important to take care of everything as quickly as possible.

John C. Bennett is a real estate closing attorney and owner of Origin Title and Escrow, Inc.. Since 2003, Origin Title has handled real estate transactions – purchases, refinances, reverse mortgages – quickly and professionally. There will be no surprises, nothing misunderstood. Title searches are thorough and well-reasoned, to avoid unpleasant surprises later down the road. Calculate your closing costs in Georgia or Florida using our calculator or contact Origin Title using this form.

As of July, 2021, the Atlanta metro area includes 11 counties. Having an Atlanta mailing address does not mean the property is in the official city limits. A house can have an Atlanta address and be located in Cobb, DeKalb, or Fulton county.   

When a homeowner refinances or sells property and pays off a mortgage, the mortgage lender files a release in the county records.  Many times, the lender will use just the city name and zip code to file the release, meaning they are often filed in the wrong county.  When a title search shows an open mortgage that we expect was paid in full, Origin Title searches to see if it was filed in the wrong county. Most of the time, we discover that it was.  Origin Title will then get a certified copy of the release and file it in the correct county to keep problems from arising in the future.  

We recommend that borrowers keep copies of any releases from mortgage lenders. This will reduce the chance of delays when the property is being sold or refinanced due to an old mortgage still showing as open in the county public records.  

Yes! When you borrow money to buy a house, there are two separate and distinct promises you are making. 

First, the personal liability is the promise to personally pay back the loan. This is represented by the promissory note at closing.  Lenders look at the credit rating of anyone signing the promissory note.  

Second, is the promise to give the house to the lender if the loan can’t be paid back.  The property owners sign the Security Deed at closing to put the house or land up as collateral for the loan.  Everyone with an interest in the property must sign the Security Deed. The property owners and borrowers aren’t necessarily the same people. 

There are certain reasons it might make sense for only one person to apply for the loan. Contact us to discuss, we can answer your questions on how these decisions can impact your specific situation. 

When a title search is completed, there is always  an effective date on the title commitment. This is the date the county clerk has processed all of the deed filings. Believe it or not, the filing date is very important because whichever lien or security interest is filed first has priority. Being in first lien position allows the lender to foreclose on the property and wipe-out almost all subsequent liens and mortgages. 

Have you ever been in line for tickets and get the last one? Do you feel bad for the people behind you? That’s how liens work. When a borrower defaults, the lien holders all line up and once the property is gone, anyone behind that person is out of luck. 

Mortgage lenders could greatly benefit from working with Origin Title & Escrow, who will file their deeds promptly to protect their interest in the property. 

The answer is no.  It is not automatic and surviving spouses can be in a bind if they aren’t prepared.  

Ideally, spouses are  listed as “joint tenants with right of survivorship” on the vesting deed.  If this is the case, then the surviving spouse automatically becomes the owner of the property.  This is also true for any co-owners of property in Georgia, not limited to married couples.

If a married couple does not have this listed on the deed, hopefully a will is in place where everything is left to the other.  The will would need to be probated after the person’s death, and then a deed would be prepared from the executor of the estate to the surviving spouse.  

If there is no survivorship on the deed AND no will, then a surviving spouse could file for a year’s support in probate court within two years of the death in order to get the house. 

If none of the above is set in place, then the owners would become ALL of the heirs, including children or anyone else entitled to inherit the home.  

Origin Title always ask buyers if they want to be joint tenants with survivorship at closing, which can save thousands of dollars and headaches down the road.