Title company in Sebastian · Indian River County
The oldest deeds in Sebastian were never recorded in this county.
Paradise Title is in the 1919 brick house at 1208 US-1, on the river side, a block south of the Main Street boat ramp. It went up five years before Sebastian incorporated and six before Indian River County existed, which is also what makes some Sebastian searches longer than they look.
Walk in
You can walk into this one.
Sebastian is where we are, not a county we drive to. You sign at the table inside, and the person handling your file is one of three you can name.
1208 US-1, on the river side, south of the Main Street boat ramp, parking on site.
Diane and Kim run closings. The title is searched and examined in house.
Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. Come in and ask a question without an appointment.
Three counties, one parcel
Where a Sebastian deed is actually recorded.
A Sebastian chain of title can cross two county lines before it reaches Vero Beach. The town incorporated in 1924, a year before the county it now sits in existed, so the older the parcel the further away its first instruments are.
Brevard County, Titusville
Sebastian sat in Brevard County until St. Lucie was cut out of its southern end in the summer of 1905. Anything older is recorded in Titusville.
St. Lucie County, Fort Pierce
Sebastian was St. Lucie County for twenty years, and the town incorporated in 1924 while that was still true.
Indian River County, Vero Beach
The Clerk’s recorded document images begin in July 1925, at the county’s creation. Nothing older than that exists in Vero Beach.
An Old Town Sebastian parcel whose root of title predates 1925 has its originating instruments in Fort Pierce, and anything before 1905 in Titusville. Sebastian Highlands, platted after 1957, has none of this. The same search is a different job depending on which side of the FEC tracks the property sits.
1957 and after
Sebastian Highlands is a General Development Corporation subdivision.
GDC acquired Sebastian Highlands in June 1957, the same developer as Port Malabar in Palm Bay and Port St. Lucie. The lots sold by mail order, by franchised agents, and by caravans of buyers brought in by bus, airplane and train, with model homes in Philadelphia and Grand Central stations. Quarter-acre parcels at $500, marketed to Northeast retirees. GDC pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud on 16 March 1990 and filed Chapter 11 the next month.
Sebastian is 36.8% aged 65 or over with 85.2% owner-occupancy, so a single Highlands lot often arrives as an estate, with heirs who have never seen the ground. A vacant lot also carries city stormwater at 0.67 ERU, with a city lien available if it goes unpaid.
Ask us before you combine two lots. The Property Appraiser’s merge form warns that it permanently destroys the prior assessment cap, needs lender approval where there is a mortgage, and may create title insurance issues.
Read the whole bill
Four authorities can appear on one Sebastian tax bill.
Ad valorem taxes are the part everybody prorates. The column underneath is where a Sebastian file gets missed, and you can check every figure on your own bill.
An independent taxing district created by special act in 1919, spanning Brevard and Indian River, with five elected commissioners.
A Chapter 298 water control district created by circuit court decree in 1927, with a board elected by landowners rather than by residents.
Collected under Chapter 197 by the uniform method, which makes it lienable and puts it on the November tax bill rather than a utility invoice.
Owed whether or not you connect, payable on completion or amortised over ten years on the tax roll from 2024.
Each is a different authority, estopped and prorated separately, and none of them comes off a proration of the ad valorem line.
Contract to policy
How a file runs.
The file opens
The contract arrives, we open the file the same day, and we tell you who is handling it.
We search the title
The title is searched and examined in house. If there is a defect we call, explain it plainly, and start clearing it.
Figures before closing day
Your figures go out before closing day, not at the table.
You sign, we record
You sign at 1208 US-1 in Sebastian. We record with the Indian River County Clerk, and the policy follows.
Questions
Questions we get from Sebastian.
Where are older Sebastian property records kept?
Indian River County's document images begin in July 1925, so anything older sits in St. Lucie County at Fort Pierce for the 1905 to 1925 period, and in Brevard County at Titusville before that.
Do I have to drive to Vero Beach to close on a Sebastian house?
No, you sign at 1208 US-1 in Sebastian and we handle the recording with the county.
Is a Sebastian Highlands lot different from a house in Old Town?
Yes, Sebastian Highlands was platted after 1957 and sits entirely in the Indian River County record, while an Old Town parcel older than 1925 has its earliest instruments in another county.
What is the charge on my Sebastian tax bill that is not property tax?
It is a non-ad valorem assessment, and a Sebastian parcel can carry several of them from separate authorities.
What does a title policy cost in Sebastian?
Florida fixes the title premium by purchase price, so it costs the same wherever in the state you close, and what changes is who handles your file.
My mailing address says Sebastian but the parcel is in Brevard County. Where does it record?
It records in Brevard County, because a Sebastian ZIP code north of the line covers Barefoot Bay and Micco, and the county comes from the parcel rather than from the address.
Call Today for a Title!
There is no form on this website. Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, a person here answers the phone.