Thanks both! Should I be expecting a deed at some point? Do I need to request?
Not sure on the terminology. Where I live, from what I understand, the fact that I own my house is just recorded in the county records. I never have, and never will receive, any sort of paper showing it's mine (as happens with a car, which is referred to around here as the title). Even if I requested one.
What I have received is a letter from the lender saying "Congratulations, you paid off your mortgage!" And the fact that I owed them was recorded with the county also (around here that is called a mortgage lien), and they also record the removal of the lien.
That's another reason to overpay a bit. With my mortgages, they actually charge me a $60 fee for their work to let the county know to remove the lien. This is sometimes called a reconveyance fee.
The removal of the lien can take a few weeks to a few months to get recorded with the county recorder.
FWIW, I've never had any problems with the liens getting put onto or removed from my properties, but it's good to be sure to check and make sure things are done correctly at the time. Otherwise you run the risk of having an erroneous lien being on your property years later, when it is much harder to track down the paperwork and straighten stuff out. If it crops up when you're trying to sell the house, that could delay or derail a potential sale.
I've also never had to do anything with the "Congrats" paperwork from the lender, but they don't take up much room in my filing cabinet, so I hold on to them.
