Tax Lien buying: How to minimize buying risks...

[Greg W.]

Hey gang, novice investor here looking to gain some wisdom.

As I understand it, Tax Liens pretty much take priority over ALL other liens a property may have against it EXCEPT for IRS liens. My question is, how do you KNOW if a property HAS an IRS lien against it? Where do obtain that information? Also, how do find out stuff like:

1. What the zoning of a given property is? (Residential, Commercial, etc.)
2. If there are any hazards on the property that need to be dealt with (toxic waste in the back yard, as an extreme example.)

I just want to know what kind of checklist you savvy tax lien buyers out there use to ensure your purchases have minimized risk as much as possible.

Thank you in advance.