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Seeking afordable title searches
Hi all.
Does anyone have a good referral for affordable title searches? I'm expanding into the world of tax lien/deed investing so will need to be conducting title searches on a regular basis. One title company I reached out to charges $120 per title search. Wondering if this is about right in terms of cost or whether there are other more affordable companies out there.
Any input or referrals would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks, Rob
ProTitle has title searches for under $100, depending on what level of detail you need. The below was a 'Current Owner O&E' search.
A lot of note investors, myself included, use ProTitleUSA like @Alecia Bolton alluded to. I don't know a ton about tax lien investing but my advice for note investors is to be selective as to when you order title reports (can get pricey if you run too many), but it can be wise to pay a bit more (two-owner search, for example) for a more thorough search for those assets you are likely to purchase. In other words, be selective as to which assets you order a search on, but be thorough in your due diligence on assets you are committed to buying.
@Rob Dold in my area the actual abstractors who do the search charge about $75. If you want an attorney to order one and then review, and explain it it would typically be about $150 in my area.
More importantly though, is why do you want them? Generally a tax lien foreclosure wipe out any mortgages or judgements tied to the property. You don't need to know if there are mortgages or judgments because they won't matter if you have to foreclose. They certainly won't matter if an owner chooses to redeem his or her property.
A "title search" may not include IRS lien, Bankruptcy, death estate searches etc. These things may be important when buying tax liens. When title or escrow company handles a settlement, they look into a lot more things than just the land records. How the person you are getting the information from, defines "Title search" may depend on exactly what you get. You need to be clear on specifically what information you want.
I have bought many thousands of liens an have never gotten a complete title search before buying any of them. On large liens, ($15k +) where there is a risk of tying up money and budget for a long time is a risk, we usually do a quick bankruptcy search.
Now of course every state is different and you didn't say where you would be investing. It is possible that in some states these things are not always wiped out and then of course you need more information. However I am not aware of any state where debts against the property are not wiped out. Anyone with different information please update me.
@Ned Carey as you say most of the time these are a no issue because the tax lien (or deed in my case) wipes the others. But a through search back 30 years in County Clerk and District Court records in given area should uncover anything else. I run title as a profession and would charge about 120 a tract for this search. I do not think it would be needed in most cases. Hope this helped.
@Ron Flatt Jr
@Ned Carey
@Alecia Bolton
@Jamie Bateman
Thanks for your comments all. Your comments have been very helpful. I’m planning on investing in TN which is a redeemable tax deed state. The primary area of “concern” is around things like IRS liens and the likes that wouldn’t be wiped clean by the foreclosure.
Appreciate the referral and the advice!
#2 All Forums Contributor
- Investor
- Virginia
The most cost effective would be to do a search yourself. Second option would be to contact some abstractors in the local market. When you buy from larger firms just recognize you are paying their overhead costs as well. Recently I started using nationwide title companies to pull title reports for me as I get them to also confirm if the title is insurable. Now this is for note investing. Ned hit the nail on the head though as typically tax lien FC wipe out all other liens.
@Chris Seveney - Thanks for the insights Chris. Appreciate the help!
#2 Real Estate Agent Contributor
- Real Estate Broker
- Coppell, TX
@Rob Dold I buy a fair amount of tax deeds and I'm less interested in title search than lien search. In my experience the governmental liens don't drop off with the sale so depending on where the properties are you can have issues with city liens like mowing, cleanup, demolition, etc.
IRS so far has not been an issue for me....and I have bought property with IRS liens, but it is nice to know if they do have IRS liens.
So far I have not purchased anything with lender liens on them....everyone says those get wipe out, but I can't believe that is automatic. I would even venture to guess that it is not a simple letter to the lender or trade that gets a lien release. I'm sure I will cross that bridge at some point, but so far lucky.
@Bruce Lynn Hi Bruce. I really appreciate your insights and clarification between the title search and lien search. This whole world of tax deed investing is new to me so this is very helpful.
Quote from @Rob Dold:Hey Rob, how's the Tax deed investing going? Wanting to get into this myself. Did you end up using something like Protitleusa for title searches or find something else? Thanks!
@Bruce Lynn Hi Bruce. I really appreciate your insights and clarification between the title search and lien search. This whole world of tax deed investing is new to me so this is very helpful.
Quote from @Sam Booth:
Quote from @Rob Dold:Hey Rob, how's the Tax deed investing going? Wanting to get into this myself. Did you end up using something like Protitleusa for title searches or find something else? Thanks!
@Bruce Lynn Hi Bruce. I really appreciate your insights and clarification between the title search and lien search. This whole world of tax deed investing is new to me so this is very helpful.
Following- also looking into tax deed investing...@Sam Booth-Would like to know if you have more information.
Quote from @Tosin Olu:I haven't done anything yet but hoping to soon. What state are you in?
Quote from @Sam Booth:
Quote from @Rob Dold:Hey Rob, how's the Tax deed investing going? Wanting to get into this myself. Did you end up using something like Protitleusa for title searches or find something else? Thanks!
@Bruce Lynn Hi Bruce. I really appreciate your insights and clarification between the title search and lien search. This whole world of tax deed investing is new to me so this is very helpful.
Following- also looking into tax deed investing...@Sam Booth-Would like to know if you have more information.
Quote from @Sam Booth:
Quote from @Tosin Olu:I haven't done anything yet but hoping to soon. What state are you in?
Quote from @Sam Booth:
Quote from @Rob Dold:Hey Rob, how's the Tax deed investing going? Wanting to get into this myself. Did you end up using something like Protitleusa for title searches or find something else? Thanks!
@Bruce Lynn Hi Bruce. I really appreciate your insights and clarification between the title search and lien search. This whole world of tax deed investing is new to me so this is very helpful.
Following- also looking into tax deed investing...@Sam Booth-Would like to know if you have more information.
Looking at Pennsylvania for tax deeds. The state I am in does redemption.
Quote from @Sam Booth:
Quote from @Tosin Olu:I haven't done anything yet but hoping to soon. What state are you in?
Quote from @Sam Booth:
Quote from @Rob Dold:Hey Rob, how's the Tax deed investing going? Wanting to get into this myself. Did you end up using something like Protitleusa for title searches or find something else? Thanks!
@Bruce Lynn Hi Bruce. I really appreciate your insights and clarification between the title search and lien search. This whole world of tax deed investing is new to me so this is very helpful.
Following- also looking into tax deed investing...@Sam Booth-Would like to know if you have more information.
@Sam Booth Try Netroonline for lien search.