Definition of "Bill of sale"

Stephen Fivecoat real estate agent

Written by

Stephen Fivecoatelite badge icon

Ultima Real Estate

A Bill of Sale is a formal document of the sale of goods or the transfer of title for personal property and chattel from one party to another.

In sum, a bill of sale is a sort of receipt. It can be complex or simple, depending on the asset being sold or transferred and the conditions behind. A soda that you buy at a quick-mart, will warrant you that simple paper receipt detailing the seller’s information and the description of the product and its price. But when it comes to real estate, the bill of sale gets more complex.

Generally registered at the county office to make it official, the bill of sale fully describes the asset sold, localizing its lot lines and features, and basically states that the property has been paid for – showing receipts of payment and that no outstanding lien exists on it. In possession of this written bill of sale – that can be of something like 3 to 10 pages long, the buyer has a receipt for the right to sell the property at a later date.

Unfortunately, however, there are cases when the bill of sale is not enough, as an old undiscovered lien from a homeowner years before you might surface at a later date. That’s why is important, when buying a house, to have title insurance to make the legal proceedings faster and less expensive, and clear yourself of lien problems, redirecting them to the home seller.

Real Estate Agent:

Visit our Real Estate Questions page and figure out if any of your real estate doubts match the frequently asked ones!

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

The word’s etymology reflects several diverse or seemingly unrelated topics under the same umbrella. As part of everyday discourse, you’ll find the term “omnibus” ...

The definition of property acquisition cost in real estate is the total recorded cost of a piece of real estate after reductions in price, incentives, closing costs and any other ...

To understand what a principal broker is, we have to go back up the family tree of real estate.You do understand all brokers can be real estate agents, but not every real estate agent can ...

Refers to state statues protecting the public against securities frauds of real estate companies. ...

Upon satisfaction of a mortgage or other debt payments, the deed releases property, or a portion of it, form the incumbrance. Often it is used in circumstances where a deed of trust is ...

Subsoil that is beneath the A horizon and above the C horizon of the earth. ...

Person selected by a judge or creditors of a bankrupt individual to handle matters including the sale of the bankrupt's assets, management of the funds from the sale of those assets, ...

Also called profit and loss statement. A financial statement depicting a business entity's operating performance and reports the components of net income, including sales of real estate, ...

To put it simply, acquisitions are a common occurrence in the business world, and they happen to small, medium, and large businesses alike. The definition of acquisition is a company ...

Popular Real Estate Questions