What are the sources for title and lien searches

Title & Lien Sources

Question:

Hi, what are the sources for your title and lien searches? What all do you search? Just the county records?

Thanks in advance,

Mark J.

Answer:

Hi Mark,

Your inquiry was referred to me for handling. Our reports are compiled using a variety of sources including government municipalities and private entities. If you want to share what your purpose is, I can point you in the right direction.

Many of our real estate investor clients use the Homebuyer’s Service, or the Full Property/Owner Lien Service, depending on whether they are familiar with the area. Property liens specifically recorded against a property address would be indexed by the address and come from the county recorder. Judgment liens against an individual should be recorded, but frequently they are not properly recorded and/or properly indexed by the individual’s name and the property address. We search for that scenario in the city/county/state/federal court records because these sometimes surface after a purchase and form clouds on the title.

The property and individual detail information is compiled from several to several hundred public and private sources. Our clients often want to estimate what is owed on a property before they make an offer, want more information about who they will be negotiating with and/or want to understand the general financial picture – or all of the above.

Essentially, we are a boutique firm that does the research for the client quickly and at a reasonable price. Some people prefer to do their own research, but our clients prefer we do it for them. Our client base consists mostly of real estate investors, equity groups, law firms, private lenders, agent/brokers and sometimes the general public.

We cannot guarantee the accuracy as our reports are only as accurate as the sources from which we extrapolate the information. Please see our Terms of Use and Refund Policy. We do not close transactions and we not issue title policies. While many of our seasoned real estate investors calculate their risk and close their own transactions, we never recommend that to any client. The company services were designed to make initial research easier. That said, we recommend that a local title company be used for closing transactions and that a title policy is purchased to guarantee clear title. We provide referrals to our preferred title companies, real estate attorneys, real estate agents/brokers and mortgage brokers.

Please let me know if you have additional questions or need more information. We appreciate your interest.

Thank you,

Jeannie B.
Client Services
www.UsTitleRecords.com

Client response:

Thanks for getting back to me. I’m looking at purchasing a piece of land that I know the individuals are behind on taxes. I’m just not sure if there is anything that might be hidden such as a hospital / medical type lien on the property. The only thing that shows up at the court house are the tax liens.

Answer: 

If you want or need to minimize your expense, you can do the research yourself or you might try contacting your local title company, especially one that you’ve used in the past to close one or more transactions because sometimes they will do courtesy searches for a customer. It depends on the company.
Thank you,

Jeannie B.
Client Services
www.UsTitleRecords.com