# Real Estate Title Due Diligence

> >-

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-dungnotnull-real-estate-title-dispute-history-due-diligence-advisor-agent-skill-real-estate-title-dispute-history-due-diligence-advisor-agent-skill`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [dungnotnull](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/dungnotnull)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [dungnotnull](https://github.com/dungnotnull)
- **Source:** https://github.com/dungnotnull/Real-Estate-Title-Dispute-History-Due-Diligence-Advisor-agent-skill

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-dungnotnull-real-estate-title-dispute-history-due-diligence-advisor-agent-skill-real-estate-title-dispute-history-due-diligence-advisor-agent-skill
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# SKILL.md — Real Estate Title & Dispute History Due Diligence Advisor

> **Standing disclaimer (applied to every output):** This skill provides general,
> educational, and analytical information only. It is **not** a substitute for a
> licensed title search, notary, real-estate attorney, surveyor, or title
> insurance underwriting. It does **not** access non-public records and cannot
> certify the state of any title. Always verify every finding against primary
> source records and consult a qualified, licensed professional before relying on
> any output for a decision with legal or financial consequences.

## 1. What this skill does

It structures a prospective property buyer's due-diligence investigation into a
property's **title history**, **encumbrances**, **dispute record**, and
**zoning/land-use compliance**, grounded in established real-estate
title-examination methodology. It produces a single, schema-validated
`DueDiligenceReport` and explicitly flags every step that legally requires a
licensed professional.

It is a **reasoning-support framework**, not a record-access service and not a
legal-opinion engine.

## 2. Skill registry — how skills are registered, resolved, executed, validated

This skill is implemented as a **modular skill-registry pattern** (see
`assets/diagrams/architecture.md`). The registry is the single source of truth
for which sub-advisors exist, how they are selected, and how their output is
validated.

### 2.1 Registration

Sub-advisors extend `title_dd.skill.base.Advisor` and register themselves with
`title_dd.skill.registry.SkillRegistry`. Each advisor declares:

| Field            | Type   | Purpose                                                        |
|------------------|--------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
| `advisor_id`     | str    | Stable registry id (`chain_of_title`, `encumbrance`, …).       |
| `methodology`    | str    | Human-readable methodology name (echoed in the report).         |
| `feature_flag`   | str    | Feature-flag key gating the advisor (see `config/feature_flags.json`). |
| `reference_file` | str    | The grounding reference in `references/` the advisor loads.     |

Registered advisors:

| Advisor id        | Methodology                              | Reference file                         | Feature flag      |
|-------------------|------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|-------------------|
| `chain_of_title`  | Chain-of-title examination methodology   | `chain-of-title-methodology.md`        | `chain_of_title`  |
| `encumbrance`     | Encumbrance & lien-priority analysis     | `encumbrance-lien-priority.md`         | `encumbrance`     |
| `dispute_history` | Dispute & litigation history investigation | `dispute-history-investigation.md`   | `dispute_history` |
| `zoning`          | Zoning & land-use compliance             | `zoning-land-use-compliance.md`        | `zoning`          |
| `report`          | Due-diligence report assembly            | `due-diligence-report-template.md`     | `report`          |

### 2.2 Resolution

`SkillRegistry.resolve(requested, include_report)` returns the active advisor
set, honouring (in order):

1. **Feature flags** from `config/default_config.json` / `TITLE_DD_FEATURE_*` env
   vars. A disabled advisor never runs.
2. **Explicit user selection** via the `advisors` field of the input schema.
3. The **chain-of-thought router** (`title_dd.agents.router.ChainOfThoughtRouter`)
   which inspects the request text, emits an auditable "thought", and may
   narrow the set when the request only concerns one domain (token efficiency).

### 2.3 Execution

The orchestrator (`title_dd.agents.orchestrator.Orchestrator`) drives the run:

1. Loads settings, references (RAG grounding), the LLM client, the tool
   registry, the skill registry, and the hook dispatcher.
2. Validates the input against `assets/schemas/skill-input.schema.json`.
3. Routes to select the active domain advisors.
4. Runs each domain advisor through `Advisor.safe_run`, which **isolates
   failures**: a misbehaving advisor becomes a warning on the report, never a
   crashed run. Each advisor:
   - grounds itself in its reference file,
   - builds its checklist via the deterministic `build_checklist` tool,
   - applies user-supplied records to update item statuses and raise findings
     (using tools such as `lien_priority` where relevant),
   - asks the LLM client for a concise summary (with **graceful fallback** to the
     deterministic stub provider if the real LLM fails),
   - records token usage and emits lifecycle events via hooks.
5. The `report` advisor assembles all results with the weighted risk-scoring
   framework, deduplicates open risks and licensed-professional flags, derives
   the overall risk rating, and appends a closing note.
6. The report is validated against
   `assets/schemas/due-diligence-report.schema.json` before being returned.

### 2.4 Validation

- **Input** → `assets/schemas/skill-input.schema.json`.
- **Per-advisor checklists** → `assets/schemas/checklist.schema.json`.
- **Final report** → `assets/schemas/due-diligence-report.schema.json`.

Validation uses `jsonschema` when available and a structural fallback otherwise.
The CLI `title-dd validate ` validates any report file;
`title-dd validate --skill` checks the skill structure is complete.

## 3. Input / output JSON schemas

### 3.1 Input (`assets/schemas/skill-input.schema.json`)

```json
{
  "property_description": "123 Example St, Example County (or legal description)",
  "jurisdiction": "Example State (optional)",
  "intended_use": "single-family residence (optional)",
  "advisors": ["chain_of_title", "encumbrance"],
  "user_supplied_records": {
    "deeds":          [{"date": "2020-01-01", "grantor": "A", "grantee": "B", "vesting": "sole"}],
    "liens":          [{"id": "L1", "lien_type": "mortgage", "recording_date": "2020-02-01", "amount": 150000}],
    "court_cases":    [{"docket": "FC-2023-1", "case_type": "quiet title", "status": "pending"}],
    "zoning_letters": [{"classification": "R-1", "permitted_uses": ["single-family residence"], "legal_lot_status": "legal"}]
  }
}
```

`property_description` is the only required field; everything else is optional.
The skill never fabricates records — it reasons over what the user supplies and
flags what must still be obtained.

### 3.2 Output (`assets/schemas/due-diligence-report.schema.json`)

The report object (see the schema for the full contract) contains:

- `report_id`, `generated_at`, `property_description`, `jurisdiction`
- `overall_risk_level` (`low|moderate|high|critical|unknown`) and `overall_risk_score` (0–1)
- `methodology_summary` — the frameworks applied
- `advisor_results[]` — each with `checklist`, `findings`, `summary`,
  `tokens_used`, `warnings`, and an auditable `risk_breakdown`
- `open_risks[]` — deduplicated high/critical findings + flagged checklist items
- `licensed_professional_flags[]` — deduplicated licensed-professional steps
- `disclaimers[]` — always non-empty (the standing disclaimer)
- `sources[]` — the reference documents operationalised
- `closing_note` — a short LLM-derived interpretation that never certifies title

## 4. Hooks & tools

### 4.1 Hooks (`src/title_dd/hooks/`)

Lifecycle events are dispatched by `HookDispatcher`. Built-in hooks:

| Hook                       | Event(s)        | Role                                              |
|----------------------------|-----------------|---------------------------------------------------|
| `RunTimerHook`             | run.start/end   | Records wall-clock duration.                      |
| `TokenBudgetHook`          | advisor.end     | Aggregates tokens; warns if the budget is exceeded. |
| `FabricationGuardrailHook` | advisor.end     | Flags possible fabricated recording references.   |
| `DisclaimerGuardrailHook`  | report.assembled| Re-injects the standing disclaimer if missing.    |
| `EventEmissionHook`        | all             | Emits structured JSON events (when verbose).      |

`StateStore` provides cross-advisor, per-run state synchronisation (e.g., a
judgment lien found by the encumbrance advisor can be cross-referenced by the
dispute-history advisor via threaded `prior_results`).

Custom hooks register with `dispatcher.register_hook(event, hook)`; a failing
hook is isolated and recorded as a warning, never breaking the run.

### 4.2 Tools (`src/title_dd/tools/`)

Tools are deterministic, schema-declared handlers (they never call the LLM):

| Tool              | Input schema                                           | Output                                   |
|-------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| `build_checklist` | `{category, methodology_text}`                         | `Checklist` with weighted, flagged items |
| `lien_priority`   | `{liens[]}`                                            | `{priority_ladder[]}` with rationale      |
| `score_advisor`   | `{advisor, checklist, findings}`                       | `risk_breakdown` (item/finding/advisor)   |
| `assemble_report` | `{property_description, advisor_results, …}`           | final `DueDiligenceReport` object         |

Tool schemas are published via `ToolRegistry.schemas()` for runtime introspection
and external tool-callers.

## 5. LLM provider model

The LLM is an **abstraction** (`title_dd.llm`). Two providers:

- **`stub`** (default, offline, deterministic): produces reference-grounded,
  schema-friendly responses with zero network calls. Makes the whole system
  runnable in CI and air-gapped environments.
- **`http`** (OpenAI Chat Completions-compatible): real generative prose, with
  bounded retries, exponential backoff, fast-fail on 4xx, and automatic
  **fallback to the stub** when `fallback_to_stub` is enabled.

Switch via `TITLE_DD_LLM_PROVIDER` (see `.env.example`). Domain logic
(checklists, findings, scoring, flags) is deterministic and identical across
providers; only the prose summaries/closing note differ.

## 6. Configuration (`config/`)

Type-safe, immutable settings (`title_dd.config.Settings`) resolved as:
`config/default_config.json` → `TITLE_DD_*` env vars → explicit overrides.

See `.env.example` for all knobs (provider, token budgets, log level/verbosity,
and per-advisor feature flags).

## 7. Methodologies applied

Each framework from `PROJECT-detail.md` §3.2 is operationalised in a concrete
`references/` file (not just cited). The skill names the framework it is using
in every output so reasoning is auditable:

- **Chain-of-title examination methodology** → `references/chain-of-title-methodology.md`
- **Title-insurance due-diligence standards** → `references/encumbrance-lien-priority.md`
- **Risk-based due-diligence checklist framework** → `references/risk-scoring-framework.md` + every advisor's checklist
- **Encumbrance and lien-priority analysis** → `references/encumbrance-lien-priority.md`

## 8. Guardrails (always enforced)

1. Every substantive response carries the standing disclaimer.
2. No certified/legal determinations ("marketable title", "clear title", legal opinions).
3. No jurisdiction-specific legal advice — methodology is conceptual.
4. No judgments about named individuals; stay at population/general level.
5. Every licensed-professional step is explicitly flagged.
6. No fabricated recording references, docket numbers, or chain entries.
7. Uncertainty is stated honestly.

## 9. Running

```bash
# install (editable)
pip install -e .

# run a request
title-dd run request.json
cat request.json | title-dd run --stdin

# validate
title-dd validate report.json
title-dd validate --skill

# self-test (3 fictional scenarios)
title-dd selftest
```

Programmatic:

```python
from title_dd import run_due_diligence
report = run_due_diligence({
    "property_description": "Fictional Parcel A, Example County",
    "intended_use": "single-family residence",
    "user_supplied_records": {"deeds": [...]},
})
```

## 10. Out of scope

- Does not replace a licensed title search, notary, real-estate attorney, or
  surveyor.
- Does not access non-public records.
- Does not certify title, issue legal opinions, or guarantee outcomes.
- Does not perform Git operations, model pulling, or model training.

## 11. Sources

Methodology is distilled from the research catalogue in
`SECOND-BRAIN-KNOWLEDGE-PAPER.md` and the annotated, applied knowledge brain in
`RESEARCH-PAPER-KNOWLEDGE-BRAIN.md` (30 scientist/authoritative sources) into the
operational `references/` files. `src/title_dd/references/citations.py` maps each
sub-advisor to the papers it applies, and the report assembler injects those
citations into every report's `sources[]` so each finding is traceable to a named
source.

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [dungnotnull](https://github.com/dungnotnull)
- **Source:** [dungnotnull/Real-Estate-Title-Dispute-History-Due-Diligence-Advisor-agent-skill](https://github.com/dungnotnull/Real-Estate-Title-Dispute-History-Due-Diligence-Advisor-agent-skill)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** yes
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-dungnotnull-real-estate-title-dispute-history-due-diligence-advisor-agent-skill-real-estate-title-dispute-history-due-diligence-advisor-agent-skill
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/dungnotnull
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

---
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