Understanding Title in the United States - Foreign investor

[Juan Pardo]

Hi all! I created this thread as a spin-off from this other thread:

We Loaned on a Stolen House

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

I am trying to understand the differences about closing on a property, and particularly Title, between my country, Spain, and the US.

Basically I dont understand how a purchaser in the US can be in the hand of private companies to research Title. Isnt there one single public registry where a buyer can directly and by himself review title, encumbrances, liens etc???? And I read insurance is needed to buy a property, which sounds shocking to me, meaning there may be a high risk involved in something as simple as purchasing property.

In Spain, where I live transactions regarding property are supervised, governed and administered by government appointed officials, notary public and land registrar, and they can solve any doubts a prospective buyer has about a property transaction.

Title can be reviewed asking the Land Registry for the property's file. And a prospective buyer can see the current encumbrancs, liens etc on a property, and also, if he wishes, the title history, how title passed from one owner to the next, and every marginal note, every lien, everything, that happened to that property over time.

Here in order to become a notary public, candidates have to go to law school first and then, after law school, they need to be better than other candidates in a public exam that takes several years to prepare. There are very few openings for this profession and sucessful candidates have to be better than all the other that sit the exam. There is a lot of competition because basically this is an extremely well paid job, and a job for life. Land registrars are responsible for the public recording of property transactions within their jurisdiction. Becoming a land registrar is even harder than becoming a notary public. These people know the law really well.

Notary offices also can explain buyers how to file the taxes derived from purchasing or selling property, and point them to the relevant IRS offices to liquidate their taxes.

The land registry here is a nationwide public system where everything is recorded. For instance, I can obtain information on a property asking the relevant registry, and they send me the property file, with everything that has been recorded, mortgages, tax liens, easements, etc etc.. and it can be directly reviewed by the buyer, or one can ask a lawyer to have a look at it.

So buyer and seller in Spain exchange the check at the notary public office. Sometimes it is needed to withhold some money to liquidate pending payments related to the property (maybe somehow similar to escrow), but this is a minor thing and we do not have to use insurance for any of this since the transaction is done with the supervision of a notary public.

I have to learn a lot more about the US system. To me it is baffling that all the information regarding Title cannot be found in one single registry. It does not sound very safe for prospective buyers. There has to be a place where these title companies look to get all the relevant information on a property.. even if you have several administrative layers, federal, state, county etc.. there should be single a registry, or am I mistaken?