When a REALTOR® asked Shafritz & Dean to pull the legal description for a parcel of land, it sounded like a straightforward request.
Until we couldn’t find one.
There was no recorded legal description for the lot in question. And without an accurate legal description, the property couldn’t be properly identified in the contract—a problem that could potentially put the transaction on hold.
Instead of simply reporting that the document couldn’t be found, our team started digging.
When the Records Don’t Tell the Whole Story
Our research uncovered an unusual history surrounding the property.
The owners of a larger original parcel had subdivided the property, but the subdivision had never been properly recorded. As a result, the back lot had never been given its own proper legal description in the public records.
The information we needed wasn’t sitting neatly in one document waiting to be found. We had to piece together the history of the property and determine how the parcels were created.
That meant searching surrounding records, examining related properties and looking for documents that might provide the missing information.
Eventually, we found an important piece of the puzzle: an encroachment agreement that contained details that helped establish the legal descriptions for both parcels.
Digging Deeper Kept the Deal Moving
With that information, our team was able to establish a proper legal description for the parcel the REALTOR® intended to represent on behalf of the seller.
That allowed the contract to accurately identify the property—and, most importantly, allowed the transaction to continue moving forward.
It would have been easy to stop when the obvious record couldn’t be found. But real estate transactions don’t always come with easy answers.
Sometimes, the answer is buried in an unexpected document. Sometimes, it takes connecting information from multiple records. And sometimes, it takes an experienced closing attorney who knows that “we couldn’t find it” isn’t necessarily the end of the search.
Experience Matters When the Unexpected Happens
This is one of the reasons having an experienced closing attorney matters.
At Shafritz & Dean, we know that every property has a history—and sometimes that history requires a little more investigation to uncover.
Our job isn’t simply to process paperwork. It’s to help identify potential problems, research the facts, find solutions and keep the transaction moving whenever possible.
In this case, a missing legal description could have created a significant obstacle. Instead, our team dug deeper, found the information needed to establish the property boundaries and helped the REALTOR® move forward with confidence.
At Shafritz & Dean, we work to solve problems—not just process transactions. Because when we can find the answers others might miss, we help everyone walk away happy from the closing table.