Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: grant deed

The best thing that you can do, is have the person sign a promissory note, with a security interest in the property. Depending on the state that the property is in, this would be in the form of a mortgage or a deed of trust.

Since you have stated that the property is in another state, I cannot advise you. California, and some other states, utilize a deed of trust, which allows you to conduct a nonjudicial trustee's sale when the trustor (the person you lent the money to) is in default.

Very truly yours,

Re: grant deed

Mr. Roach is correct. We can give you a free referral to an attorney in the state where this property is located.

Re: grant deed

Going "on title" to another person's property to secure your loan to him is not a good way to obtain collateral. There are many problems.

The first of these is that you have no particularly good way to cash in on the collateral. If you are a co-owner, theoretically you could sue to have the property partitioned, but that would be slow and expensive, and not very certain as to how much you'd recover. Also, depending upon how the deal was structured, there could be unexpected tax consequences including loss of the interest deduction by the borrower.

I'd stick with having the interest of a mortgagee or trust deed beneficiary rather than that of a co-owner.