The process of changing the title name of a property in the United States is as follows.
1. All signatures of the previous owners on the deed of the property are required.
2. According to the law, co-owners of the house have a certain percentage of ownership of each part of the property.
3. If the house has two co-owners, each with 50% rights, then one of them cannot sell half of the house, he can only transfer his 50% rights to someone else.
4. The validity of the right of transfer depends on the content of the legal documents signed jointly at the beginning, including the certificate of transfer, forms registered at the Land Office and other tax issues.
5. If there is no signature of all property owners, the transfer is not completely invalid, but just needs to be decided according to the circumstances.
Transfer of property rights with and without compensation
A transfer with consideration is the process of an ordinary house sale.
Both parties to the transaction hire a broker and can sign for the transfer. Basically, lawyers are the gatekeepers and there will not be too many disputes and problems.
However, when the transfer price is too cheap, the following problems are involved.
1. U.S. title insurance claims based on the price of the real estate.
After the transfer, the property needs to be re-insured. If it is a $100,000 property, the claim can only be calculated based on $100,000.
2. U.S. real estate-related taxes
Transaction Tax. When buying a house, the seller has to pay transaction tax. The transaction tax is calculated according to the transaction price of the house, so when the price of the house is low, the transaction tax can be saved a lot.
Capital gains tax.
Free transfers are gifts. If you want to transfer for free, the procedure is much easier than a paid transfer and only requires two visits to the lawyer's office.
The first time, bring your valid ID and social security number, and ask your lawyer to prepare the legal documents for the deed gift.
The second time, the grantor signs the deed gift document and then both grantors sign the transaction tax bill.
Advantages
The cost incurred is much lower than the transfer fee in a housing transaction.
There are no transaction taxes.
Disadvantages
The property is not traded and cannot be insured for property insurance. In the event of a problem with the title, only the original homeowner can be compensated.
Capital gains tax is calculated from the price at the date of purchase by the original owner.
Transfer of title for different property types
When buying a home with a loan in the U.S., the owner of the home can still transfer title, although the home remains in the bank's ownership until the loan is paid off.
Condominiums
Since most condominiums have a management office, you will need to get permission from the building management office if you want to add or subtract names.
Cooperative Apartments
Changing the name is not easy and usually requires strict vetting, including legal status, qualified credit report, job type, income stability and family members.
Possible legal disputes arising from the free transfer of property ownership
1. Transfer of property by the elderly
In some cases, it is not possible to apply to claim government benefits immediately after the transfer.
If an elderly person must give the property to his or her children, a clause can be written on the deed that although the elderly person passes the property to his or her children, the elderly person has the right to live in the property for life.
If the property is the only property where the elderly person lives and the elderly person has no income or savings, then they can apply for medicaid.
2. Temporary transfer of arrears.
Some people transfer their property to others temporarily because they have arrears, but there is no way to purchase property insurance for free transfer, and the indemnifier of the insurance is the original owner.
So, once the original owner has arrears, this arrears will go with someone else as well as the house.
The gifted party who sells the house still has to pay the arrears, otherwise the title of the property is in question.
3. Transferring personal property to your own company name.
Many people choose to transfer their personal property to their own company name, in fact, to their own name, but it should be noted that the owner of this property must be the same as the owner of the company.
If the property is shared by the couple, the company must also be shared by the couple and the shares must be the same. If it changes, it involves the issue of transfer tax, because this transfer is not subject to transfer tax.
