Own Title Search? General info or Palm Beach County, FL

[Sophie Evans]

I'm a new, small-time investor.

I want to perform my own title searches.

I can't find exact info to do it, except that I need to look in the county's "public records".

I know how to check the Palm Beach County Appraiser's Office and the Tax Records...but those don't show liens.

I tried to input a couple of addresses into the PB Clerk & Comptrollers "Public Record Search" (http://www.mypalmbeachclerk.com/officialrecords/search.aspx) under "property type" but came up with "No Records Found" for both.

I must be doing something wrong!

I see the advice "Visit the county recorder, clerk, or assessor’s office in person" Seems old fashioned, but I'm willing to try if it works and not available online..!

I also saw an online class ($130) to learn how to search title (by a national company, so not sure how much it will help for local searching) - Is that necessary?

IN SHORT: Any advice on doing title searches yourself?

Thanks so much...
Sophie

[Jon Holdman]

All these county recorder systems are unfriendly. And all different. There must be an army of programmers building these systems.

This is one of the more unfriendly ones I've seen. I do not see any way to search by address. The search by property type might get you there if you know the official name of the subdivision or neighborhood.

I also don't see any GIS based system (i.e, show you lots on a map.)

You should pay a visit to their offices and see if someone can show you how to do a search. There could be something that's just not obvious.

Some title companies have systems where you can get online and do searches, too. You could try calling and asking.