Customer Reviews

Deeds for California Real Estate

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you need to change a deed on your house or other real property -- changed your name, separated, married, adding a survivor to inherit -- don't pay a lawyer or title company hundreds of dollars to do it. Buy this book. Read the instructions carefully, fill out the forms and then go to the county recorder's office and file it yourself. Even if you have to pay for parking.

If I can do it, anyone can do it. After finding this book such a great help, I have turned to Nolo Press time and again for self-help legal books. Written my will, created powers of attorney for my domestic partner, even helped my folks set up living trusts. If you read the book and decide you do need legal help, you'll be better prepared to ask questions and direct the professional to do what you want, and to do what you can yourself to save dollars. Just shaving a half hour off a lawyer's time spent more than pays for the book.

I am experiencing some Deed problems in California and to try and get detailed information from the clerks office is impossible. This book has all the info you need. I highly recommend it!

DEEDS FOR CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE by Mary Randolph, J.D. is another excellent updated guide: this to choosing the right kind of deed, creating it, then filing it with a county recorder. Step-by-step instructions for so doing have been updated in this latest 7th edition to include the latest forms and reflect the most recent legal changes.

I guess I've nearly said it all in my title...and it is a terrific book which solved the questions I currently have as well as provided all the documents I needed on the CD-Rom which came with it. Having said what I just did...the other thing I'd like to add is that having this many years back would have saved me hundreds of dollars and many hours of time. If you own property or are considering it or may become a beneficiary of a trust or will property or your parents have you in their trust for their homes...this would be a terrific item to add to your library.

Of course there are many attorneys in California who specialize in these matters that will tell you how complicated these things are and if you don't do it right you will be worse off than you already are and if you pay them thousands of dollars they can save you the trouble and file these complex forms for you...

Or pay twenty bucks ...spend a few hours reading and be informed.

I'm going to investigate her other book "The Executors Guide" as I liked her approach to making a lay person easily understand the process.

Every time you change the ownership of real estate, you have to file a deed at the county recorder's office. There are three most common ones in California: Grant Deed, Quitclaim Deed, and Trust Deeds. This book explains in great detail about every single step in doing that: singing parties, transferees, and how and where to record the deeds. It comes with a CD containing sample deeds. This is a very inexpensive way to file a deed with county office yourself. It will save a great deal money from CPA and lawyer fees.

Nolo is well known for its clearly written do-it-yourself guides to handling legal issues. I've used many Nolo products in the past and have always found them to be informative and practical. "Deeds for California Real Estate" is no exception.

Anybody who needs to change or transfer ownership in real estate they already own will find this book to be an invaluable resource. The text is very comprehensive, with guidance for all of the important activities in preparing and filing real estate deeds in California, as long as the new deed is not for an open-market sale, for out-of-state property, or for removing the name of a deceased co-owner.

As with just about all Nolo publications, this book is organized in a very straightforward way. Each chapter covers a broad topic, such as Who Must Sign the Deed?, How Should the New Owners Take Title?, Recording Your Deed, and When You Need an Expert. After a brief introduction, the text explains the key principles underlying each topic and helps you figure out your legal rights and responsibilities.

The book includes a CD-ROM with a small collection of forms for creating and recording deeds. Access to a basic word processor and an Adobe Acrobat reader are required to view the forms. The deed forms are in Rich Text (.rtf) format, so they can be filled out on a computer, while all the other forms are .pdf files and can only be printed out. I had no problems opening any of the files on an i7 iMac using Microsoft Word 2008 and Apple Preview 5.0.2 .

Bottom line: "Deeds for California Real Estate" is a reliable, no frills-no hype guide. It is an immensely useful resource for anybody who is transferring real estate in California for the purposes mentioned above and in the official product description. Five stars.

This book is not about how to buy and sell real estate. Its topic is smaller: how to record or transfer real estate deeds. That's just a small part of real estate transfers.

I didn't think the topic was big enough for an entire book, and this book is only 120 pages, including index. I think 120 pages is a lot for the topic, which means the book covers it exhaustively.

I didn't know there were so many legal issues. The book discusses types of deeds (quitclaim, trust, grant, etc.); how marriage and divorce affect deeds; tax issues; inheritance; title searches; disclosure requirements, etc.

A DVD, containing various legal forms, is included.

The book directs you to Nolo Press's website for updates in the law, after you've bought the book.

Since this book seems to cover everything on the issue (what more can you ask?) I'm giving it five stars.

Book is very helpful and provides all kinds of sample forms

and websites to download forms needed to change existing deeds

or create new ones. Very easy to "do it yourself" and save $.

Who knew there was so much information you need to have or at least know!

My husband inherited a house and with this book we at least knew what we needed to do to get it in our name. The book had so much information that we could understand. It walked us through the process.

Thank You!!

Even if you will be hiring a real estate lawyer or title company, this is a good book to have in order to become familiar with deeds and changing them.

If you aren't familiar with the NOLO brand of legal books, these books give a good layman's overview of the legal area they cover in everyday language.