It’s always important to mitigate real estate risk, but even more so during uncertain economic times — like COVID-19.
In today’s economy, it’s more important to undertake due diligence efforts before a deal gets underway. This can help ensure that only qualified closings go through to your partners.
This includes:
- Verifying the legal ownership and parties on title
- Validating the property value
- Looking at the sales history for any red flags, such as odd transfers
- Evaluating the equity position
- And more
Even if you’re not doing the financing, you want to make sure that it is a viable deal before bringing in any partners so that you’re not wasting their time or damaging your relationships.
Additionally, managing real estate risk early has another benefit — you can spot potential problems your clients are dealing with, and potential solutions.
What if your clients are selling their home because they can no longer afford the mortgage? If it’s a choice between selling or foreclosure, it’s a tricky situation.
If your clients are in a sticky financial situation, it can help inform your other decisions – like list price (they might need to sell urgently, for example).
However, clients won’t always disclose this as it can feel personal or embarrassing. This is why you need to do your due diligence.
A Property Title Report can reveal any active encumbrances, including liens, judgments, and registered mortgages.
By catching these problems early, you can find a solution that satisfies both your client and your own requirements.
The Parcel Register*
There is one tool that enables you to check all of this together — a Parcel Register*.
This is a property title report that tells you:
- The Property Identification Number (PIN)
- The legal description of the property
- The type of ownership
- Registrations on title
- And more
Beyond this, through a Parcel Register* you can also access the Instrument number. If needed, you can dig deeper into an Instrument through an Instrument Image*.
The key to a strong Parcel Register* is the data source. Ideally, your Parcel Register* should provide up-to-the-minute information at the time of request (this is particularly important if you are tracking a property).
We can only speak to the data source of our Parcel Register*, available in the GeoWarehouse Store. Its information comes directly from provincial land registries. In Ontario, the data comes from the Province of Ontario Land Registration Information System (POLARIS), so you can trust that what you are receiving is complete, accurate, and up to date.
Plus, a Parcel Register* from GeoWarehouse is easy to obtain online. All you have to do is go to the GeoWarehouse Store.
Learn more about GeoWarehouse Parcel Registers* and other real due diligence tools by contacting us today. Call 1-866-237-5937 or visit www.geowarehouse.ca.
* An official product of the Ontario government pursuant to provincial land registration statutes.