What's on Your Florida Deed, and Why It Matters Before You Sell
3 min read · Last updated 2026-06-05 · Reviewed by Camilo Palacio, Licensed Florida Real Estate Professional (License #3280644, REALTOR®)
Your title is your legal right to own the property. Your deed is the actual document that transfers that right from one person to another, and it's what gets recorded in the county's Official Records. A Florida deed typically lists the grantor (seller) and grantee (buyer), the legal description of the property, the type of deed (most often a warranty deed or a quitclaim deed), the consideration paid, and the recording information once it's filed. Before you sell, it's worth confirming your deed matches your current legal name, reflects your correct marital and ownership status, and has no old liens or unresolved claims attached to it. If a title issue does turn up, Cash Flow Deals works closing through Title Guaranty of South Florida, so problems like these get flagged and worked through early rather than at the closing table.
| Warranty Deed | Quitclaim Deed | |
|---|---|---|
| What it guarantees | Seller guarantees clear title, free of undisclosed liens or claims | No guarantee at all, only transfers whatever interest the grantor actually has |
| Common use | Standard arm's-length home sales | Transfers between family members, divorce settlements, or clearing a minor title cloud |
| Title company comfort level | Standard for financed purchases and title insurance | Often triggers extra title review before a policy will insure it |
Deed vs. Title: They're Not the Same Thing
People use these two words interchangeably, but they mean different things. Title is a legal concept: it's your right to own, use, and sell a piece of property. It isn't a physical document. It's a status.
A deed is the paper (or now, usually the digitally recorded document) that actually transfers title from one owner to the next. When you bought your house, whoever sold it to you signed a deed, and that deed got recorded in your county's Official Records, which is how the public record now shows you as the owner.
You can have a deed and still have a title problem. If the deed you received had a defect, a forged signature somewhere back in the chain, an heir who never signed off, an old lien that never got released, your title can be clouded even though you're holding a piece of paper that says you own the home.
That's why title insurance exists, and why a title search happens before almost every sale: it traces the full chain of deeds back through the property's history to confirm the title being sold is actually clear, not just that a deed exists.
What's Actually Printed on a Florida Deed
A Florida deed follows a fairly standard structure. It names the grantor (the person transferring the property) and the grantee (the person receiving it), states the legal description of the property (not just the street address, but the surveyed lot and block or metes-and-bounds description), and states the type of deed being used.
It also lists the consideration, meaning the amount paid, and gets signed, witnessed, and notarized before it's recorded with the county clerk. Florida charges a documentary stamp tax on deeds at the time of recording, based on the consideration paid, which shows up as a closing cost.
The deed type matters more than most sellers realize. A warranty deed means the seller is legally guaranteeing the title is clear of undisclosed problems. A quitclaim deed makes no such guarantee, it simply transfers whatever interest the grantor happens to have, which is why quitclaim deeds show up more often in family transfers or divorce settlements than in a standard home sale between strangers.
If you're not sure which type of deed you're holding, your county's official records website (or a title company) can pull the recorded document for you directly.
Title Problems That Surface Before a Sale
The most common issues a title search turns up before a sale: an old lien that was paid off but never formally released, a judgment recorded against a prior owner, an ex-spouse still listed on the deed after a divorce, a misspelled name that doesn't match other public records, or an inherited property that never went through a clean probate transfer.
None of these are unusual, and none of them are necessarily dealbreakers. Most get resolved with paperwork: a release of lien, a corrective deed, a quitclaim from an ex-spouse, or a probate order confirming the current owner's authority to sell. But they take time to fix, and they can delay a closing if nobody catches them early.
A title search run by a company like Title Guaranty of South Florida is what catches these issues before they become a closing-day surprise. When Cash Flow Deals arranges a sale through its licensed brokerage partner Silver Door Realty, that same title search and clearance process runs up front, so a seller with a messy deed history isn't finding out about a problem for the first time at the closing table.
Common questions
What is the difference between a deed and a title?
Title is your legal right to own the property. A deed is the document that transfers that right from one person to another and gets recorded in the county's Official Records. You can hold a deed and still have a clouded title if a defect exists somewhere in the property's history.
What type of deed do I need to sell my house in Florida?
Most arm's-length Florida home sales use a warranty deed, since it guarantees the buyer that title is clear. A quitclaim deed, which offers no such guarantee, is typically used for family transfers or clearing a minor title issue, not standard sales.
What if my deed has a name that's misspelled or an ex-spouse still on it?
Both are common and fixable. A misspelled name or an ex-spouse still listed on title usually gets resolved with a corrective or quitclaim deed before closing. A title company or real estate attorney can prepare the paperwork.
Who pays the documentary stamp tax on a deed in Florida?
It's customary for the seller to pay it in most Florida counties, though it can be negotiated in the contract. It's calculated based on the consideration paid and collected when the deed is recorded.
How do I find out what liens are on my property before selling?
A title company or a real estate attorney can run a title search that pulls the full chain of deeds and any recorded liens or judgments from the county's public records. Most sellers don't do this search themselves before it's requested as part of a sale. Cash Flow Deals runs this same search through Title Guaranty of South Florida before making an offer, so problems surface early.