| Most every thing we read in our quest for knowledge | | | | foreclosure not knowing of a tax lien; then you face |
| about foreclosures and whether investment in this | | | | the loss of your new investment unless you settle the |
| particular market can be made successfully by | | | | debt. Title insurance could have protected you, the |
| novices, stresses that a title search must be made | | | | buyer. |
| early in our investigations. No adequate assessment of | | | | Just as important in the review is to pick up any |
| the level of equity in the target foreclosure home, and | | | | unsatisfied judgements against the owner selling or |
| therefore of profit, can be made until the true total of | | | | any of the previous owners. Real estate becomes |
| debt registered against the property is known. Apart | | | | security for money owed as stated in the judgement. |
| from this bald admonition, there is little available to | | | | Mechanics liens, judgement decrees, unpaid federal |
| explain what we, the relatively uninformed, should be | | | | income taxes, are examples of liens which all have |
| looking for. | | | | rights ahead of lenders rights. It is not unusual for a |
| A search of the Title or legal description of the | | | | property in foreclosure to have junior liens, debts owed |
| property is undertaken in most real estate transactions | | | | on second or even third mortgages. Junior liens rank |
| by your attorney or a title company. It is a way of | | | | after the first mortgage holder when it comes to |
| assuring the advisor to the buyer that the party | | | | allocating the proceeds of the trustee or auction sale. |
| offering this property for sale has the legal right to do | | | | Any prospective buyer seeking the foreclosing lender's |
| so, the correct legal address and description of the | | | | approval for a short sale is going to have to negotiate |
| property (for property tax purposes), and that there is | | | | a settlement with each of the junior lenders on behalf |
| nothing preventing the buyer from owning exactly | | | | of the seller. |
| what he intends to purchase. When a sellers' name is | | | | A lender's title insurance does not protect the buyer. |
| very common, the extra precaution of checking | | | | Your attorney will request that the seller removes any |
| identity is taken. | | | | defects in the title so that you, the buyer, have no risk |
| This public record gives the "Chain of Title," details of | | | | and can obtain title insurance. Why chance paying |
| who has owned the property previously and when. It | | | | market value by mistake for a foreclosure? It is vital |
| includes a tax search, which reveals if any real estate | | | | that you have the complete picture before calculating |
| taxes are owed and also any charges against the land | | | | the maximum offer to be made to the seller of the |
| itself. Any unpaid property taxes rank above all other | | | | home in pre-foreclosure, or commence to bid above |
| liens registered. If you were to purchase a pre | | | | the reserve at auction. |