Is a deed the same as a title? The signed, recorded document that transfers ownership of a property from one person to another; title is the ownership itself, which is not a piece of paper.
Title is not a document. It is the legal ownership of a property: the bundle of rights to possess it, use it, borrow against it and sell it. A deed is the paper that moves that ownership. The seller signs a deed, it is delivered to the buyer, and title passes. Nobody hands you a title at closing because there is nothing to hand over. What you get is a recorded deed and, if a policy was bought, title insurance standing behind it.
Deeds differ in what the signer promises. A general warranty deed warrants the title against every defect in its whole history, including ones that arose before the seller owned it. A special or limited warranty deed warrants only the years the seller held it. A quitclaim deed promises nothing: it transfers whatever interest the signer has, which may be none, and it is used between spouses, into and out of trusts and to clear a cloud, not to sell to a stranger. A trustee's deed upon sale is what the trustee issues to the winning bidder after a Nevada foreclosure auction. The ordinary sale deed here is the grant, bargain and sale deed, which carries two implied promises by statute and nothing more: the seller has not already conveyed the same estate to someone else, and has not encumbered it beyond what has been disclosed.
A deed takes effect between the two parties when it is signed and delivered, but it protects the buyer against everyone else only once it is recorded. Recording puts it in the public chain at the county recorder, here the Clark County Recorder, where a later buyer, lender or judgment creditor is treated as knowing about it. An unrecorded deed is how a property gets sold twice and why a title search exists. In a Nevada closing the escrow officer records the deed and the deed of trust on the same morning. The two are different instruments doing different jobs: the deed transfers ownership to you, the deed of trust pledges that ownership to the lender as security for the money.
A worked example
A buyer closes on a $415,000 house in Henderson. At signing the seller executes a grant, bargain and sale deed and the buyer signs a deed of trust for the $332,000 loan. The escrow officer records both the next morning, paying roughly $40 in recording fees and the Clark County real property transfer tax of $2.55 per $500 of value, $2,116.50 on this sale, which the seller customarily pays here. From that recording the buyer is the owner of record and the lender's lien sits immediately behind them.
Find the deed on a county property record
Questions people ask
Do I get a copy of my deed after closing?
Yes. The county recorder returns the recorded original to whoever the document names to receive it, usually the buyer, within a few weeks, and a stamped copy can be pulled from the recorder's office for a small fee at any time afterwards. Nobody needs to sell you one.
What is the difference between a deed and a deed of trust?
A deed transfers ownership from the seller to the buyer. A deed of trust is a security instrument: it pledges the property the buyer now owns to the lender, so the lender can foreclose if the loan goes unpaid. Both are recorded at closing and both carry the word deed, which is the whole of the confusion.