What to Expect Once Your Florida Home Loan is Paid Off
Congratulations!
Your Florida home loan is finally paid off. Now that you’ve been handed a copy of the Deed of Trust and can truly consider yourself a home owner, is there anything else you should expect to receive? What other documents - especially is you paid for a title insurance policy - will be coming your way as a result of this accomplishment?
The end of your Florida home loan: What’s next?
When the Florida mortgage loan wass agreed upon, you signed a number of documents. These included (1) a promissory note to the bank, (2) a deed of trust, and (3) the HUD-1 settlement statement.
You should have received a copy of all these documents when you went to settlement. In the case of a title insurance policy, speak to the attorney who recorded the deed to the property among the land records in the county where the property is located. It usually takes several months before the county will return the recorded deed to the attorney. But once that deed has been received, the attorney should have sent you that original deed, along with your title insurance policy.
Don’t worry, though. Once a deed has been recorded among the land records, it’s a public document - and if you need to obtain a copy to prove your Florida home loan is taken care of, you should be able to get one directly from the appropriate county office.
Obtaining your title insurance policy
As for the title insurance policy, you should be able to find out which title insurance company issued the policy by looking at your HUD-1. Usually, the name of that company is listed on the line which reflects the amount of money you paid for this insurance.
In reality, however, you really don’t need that policy now. Assuming a long period of time has elapsed, and there have been no claims against your property, you won’t ever need the policy. Obviously, this is not a guarantee, but if you’ve paid off a 15-year or 30-year fixed rate Florida mortgage loan, the passage of time has probably eliminated any possibility that someone could claim against your property.
Work of a lender post-Florida home loans
After you’ve paid off your Florida home loans, your lender should arrange to record a release of that mortgage on the land records. Unfortunately, not all lenders do this. Too many just send the original promissory note and original deed of trust back to the homeowner, marked “paid and cancelled.” The burden - and the cost - is on the homeowner to make sure that the mortgage is released.
Too often, homeowners do not understand the importance of having all Florida home loans actually released. They are so happy that they have paid off their debt, that they “burn the mortgage.” This is a very bad idea - and will cause you potential problems in the future when you go to sell the property.
Go directly to the county land records to confirm the status of your title, or retain a title attorney to conduct a title search. The cost for this search should not exceed $200 to $300. This is important for your peace of mind, so that you can be assured - once and for all - that you own your property free and clear.
Now go celebrate! You’ve successfully purchased your first home!
