Title clearing an old paid off lien

[Ram Gonzales]

I'm working on purchasing a property. An original purchase loan was taken in 1998, which was refinanced in 2004, and then again in 2005. The title company cannot find a release for the loan from 1998 and says they need proof from the seller that it was paid. He says he doesn't have anything since it was so long ago. I'm trying to track down the title company from 2004 (which looks like it may have since closed). The 2005 loan shows it as a first lien so I assume they cleared the history somehow but they are unwilling to share the policy. The seller is not very tech savvy and is going through some life issues so he isn't being very helpful in this. He's content to just walk away and let the bank have it. My question is, shouldn't this be something that the title company should know how to navigate? They keep coming back to me and asking how I would like to proceed. I'm thinking of switching to another title company but I'm not sure if that would just waste more time. Auction is in January. My lender is otherwise ready to close. We just need this release.