Buying at Auction

[Sheika Nikole Reid]

Hey BP family. Hope you all are doing well. 

So I am a novice in DC working my way through my first property condo at auction. I am here today for a little bit of advice. 

When I won a condo at auction about of the other people there ran up to me and said "You know that you are responsible for the title now. So any liens or debts are yours now." Naturally, I panicked. This was a great deal, at least I thought it was. I ran the comps on it, and even drove over to the property to see it before the auction. Multiple people told me that if I purchased at auction that liens and debts were cleared before it was available, so the FIRST and I do mean FIRST thing I did was to jump on the phone with the Title Company my family has used over the years. I am finding out now that there is an outstanding IRS tax lien and that I am in a vulnerable position until the underwrighters decide whether the title can be insure or not. The great part about this story is that I purchased this property for less than half of its ARV, so there is a lot of equity left in it. Can any members of the BP community give me some advice on navigating this scenario, and how to run title before I go to auction for next time?