Closing on houses Monday, but losing one to past judgement/liens

[Jerry Poon]

I am closing on a package of SF homes on 8/24. The title company calls me today and says that one of the properties is not able to be sold to me because the seller acquired the property through a quitclaim deed, which means they acquired the liens and judgments along with the property. A previous owner did not pay property taxes, and this is not showing up because I will be the first to get title insurance on this.

As a result, I am not able to purchase this house. This is after I paid for the appraisals, and after months of waiting on the lender, appraisers, and title company to complete everything. I am very upset that this is only showing up last minute. Who's responsibility is this? Can't the realtor who sold me this property have done their due diligence to make sure they own this free and clear? Or the title company to tell me sooner than four days before closing? I could have easily chosen a different property months ago to meet my goals. Now I feel like I am being screwed out of a house. Is there anything I can do?

[Wayne Brooks]

Even though I generally take a quick look at title, simply because that's my nature and I deal with short sales, problem off market properties.....it is not to be expected for an agent to do title searches on properties you make offers on.  You can choose to pay for title search, before you do the appraisal, or vice versa, it's up to you.  This is how the process works, and i's just a risk that goes along with buying properties. stop looking for someone to blame, and make you whole.  Do you pay a commission to your agent when you Cancel a contract after inspections?