If I want to bid on a house in foreclosure, how can I find out if there are existing liens on the house?
Question:
Consult a laywer, they will be able to do a search on this for a fee.
If there are any liens on the house, they will be filed at the county clerk's office in the county where the house is located. Go to the county clerk's office and get a title search.
Hall of Records.
Call a local title company. You can find them in the yellow pages. It should only take a day or two depending on where you live.
Any leins on the house would be filed with the Registry of Deeds. Check out your local Registry of Deeds and do a search by address.
The easiest way is to buy a title insurance policy. Not only will the title company do the search, but they will compensate you if their are any liens. Of course, they may refuse to issue the policy if they find anything.
No matter what, getting that insurance policy is a smart thing.
title search and title insurance need to be part of the purchase. Existing liens would be paid off from sales proceeds. A seller is required to disclose any liens. Before you close escrow, the title company will give you a report on the title search.
I believe that a Title Company will do that for a fee. Look in your local telephone book for title companies, they should be able to lead you in the right direction. I know when we have purchased properties they have done that service for us.
If there is a foreclosure...than you can safely bet there will be liens on the property..but the purchaser will not be responsible for the debt ....
To find out if there are any liens on the house ...go to the courthouse or the bank that is holding the auction...
Title search.
A real estate attorney can help you with this.
Or http://www.taxliens.com
Depending on what state you are in, you would go into either the register of deeds or the recorder of deeds office. All of them have public terminals you can use to look up information. Some counties do not allow you to do a search by address. You can easily get this information by asking the treasurer what the property ID # is, and give them the address. Then, you can do a search on the home. There will be several different types of leins to check, make sure you check both Federal AND state liens, also ask the county treasurer about back taxes. If you're not careful, you WILL be responsible for any lien.
Title search.
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