Foreclosure Sale - how to get title insurance

[Diane G.]

Please help me understand : In a foreclosure sale where you are supposed to pay the full amount on the spot, how do you get title insurance, or you don't and you are risking buying something that belongs to someone else?  Thanks

[Wayne Brooks]

@Diane G. It seems you are talking about the actual "courthouse steps" foreclosure auction....others here are confusing the issue by referring to an REO auction/purchase. You need to get a title search prior to bidding at the foreclosure auction, so you know what other liens will be wiped out, and which ones will stay. You also need to know about which "unrecorded liens" in your jurisdiction may stay attached....here that would be hoa debts. Assuming you have no liens that stay after the foreclosure, which is the case probably 80-90% of the time, you simply buy title insurance from a title co. afterwards. If you didn't get clean title, you can't get title insurance until you clear up those liens.