Buying and Selling a Home: Ohio Laws

Records to be kept by county recorder

Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. Allows for electronic signatures on contracts.

UCC security interest liens

The Financial Institutions Division of the Ohio Department of Commerce handles all supervision, examinations and regulations concerning activities of mortgage brokers. Ohio requires all mortgage brokers to be licensed by the state.

Agreement to sell real estate must be in writing and signed.

A transfer is fraudulent as to a creditor, whether the claim of the creditor arose before, or within a reasonable time not to exceed four years after, the transfer was made or the obligation was incurred, if the debtor made the transfer with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud any creditor of the debtor.

“Discount Points” are often used to make the apparent interest rate appear to be less, perhaps to prevent it from exceeding a statutory or other limit. They do have the practical value to the borrower of keeping the monthly payment This law imposes a limit of two points on residential mortgage loans except where the loan is insured by a federally related agency

Under the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (“OCSPA”) no mortgage broker shall commit an unfair or deceptive act or practice in connection with a residential mortgage.

Notice of probating of estate must be given to heirs, whose addresses can be found. This could impact a real estate sale.

Cognovit notes barred in residential real estate transactions.

Judgment lien - certificate of judgment - filing

An individual can now hold as exempt from their creditors (other than mortgage holders) the person’s interest in one parcel of real estate they use as their residence up to equity value of $125,000. So if husband and wife own the property and both file bankruptcy, then $250,000 of equity (after taking into consideration any mortgages) is exempt from their creditors.

Service by publication authorized in several different kinds of cases involving real estate.

Lis pendens - When a complaint is filed, the action is pending so as to charge a third person with notice of its pendency. While pending, no interest can be acquired by third persons in the subject of the action, as against the plaintiff's title. Some states require the plaintiff to file a special lis pendens document in the real estate records, but in Ohio no special filing is necessary.

Title Insurance

No title insurance agent shall do any of the following in connection with a mortgage loan of seventy-five thousand dollars or less:
(1) Knowingly coerce the consumer to enter into the loan;
(2) Knowingly fail to disclose to the consumer that the consumer does not have to close on the loan;
(3) Knowingly make a material misrepresentation to the consumer regarding the terms of the loan.

Real Estate Brokers

Grantor must sign deed in front of a notary, or before a judge or clerk of a court of record in this state, or a county auditor, county engineer, or mayor.

Defects in or the absence of witnesses or acknowledgments do not affect the validity of an instrument which has been of record for 4 years.

In addition to any other debt or obligation, a mortgage may secure unpaid balances of advances made, with respect to the mortgaged premises, for the payment of taxes, assessments, insurance premiums, or costs incurred for the protection of the mortgaged premises, if such mortgage states that it shall secure such unpaid balances.

All deeds shall be recorded in county where the real estate is situated. Until so recorded or filed for record, they are fraudulent insofar as they relate to a subsequent bona fide purchaser having, at the time of purchase, no knowledge of the existence of that former deed, land contract, or instrument.

Release of mortgage on certificate of mortgagee or assignee

Waiver of priority of mortgages

Marketable Title Act. The intention is to make sure that minor errors don't lead to an unsellable piece of real estate. Defines "root of title" as a conveyance “or other title transaction purporting to create the interest claimed” that has been of record for at least 40 years.

Any person having the legal capacity to own land in this state, who has an unbroken chain of title of record to any interest in land for forty years or more, has a marketable record title to such interest as defined in section 5301.47 of the Revised Code, subject to the matters stated in section 5301.49 of the Revised Code.

Mortgage form

Mortgage covenants meaning and effect

Statutory condition meaning and effect

A lender may record a master mortgage form in any county.

The lender’s mortgages may then refer to the master mortgage form rather than having to include all of the provisions of the mortgage in each individual mortgage to the text of the note “Any part or all of a master mortgage form incorporated by reference pursuant to this section in a mortgage of real property is a part of such mortgage the same as if fully rewritten therein, and need not be recorded with such mortgage to be effective.

Property disclosure form required for all residential real property transfers.

Lawsuit to quiet title

If the parties on a deed decide that they cannot own the property together, they can file a lawsuit asking the court to "partition" the real estate.