@Paul Birkett I did a preliminary search myself as I have access to County Clerk records and I didn't see anything else.

Originally posted by @Fadel Shamm:I am purchasing single family houses through MLS list, I thought the closing company would catch any pending liens, but thank you for the eye opener advice, truly appreciate it YES, they should, but remember, the first  report is a PRELIMINARY, and not final.

From preliminary research, my worst case scenario is -  Fed 35%, and 10% to DC - that's a giant 45% gone.  

I would be glad to be your boots on the ground around here for preliminary screening or whatever. 

In preliminary talks with the owner, he wants to make sure I can come in around 150k before showing it.  

If your property is in Huntington Beach, and you don't have a ton of equity, I'd wager your property isn't insured for anything close the the loan value.

The Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates that must be used when working on the set of the gov/public works projects makes this approach more cost efficient and yield excellent profits for the pre-fab co. 

Your best source of information would be a preliminary title search for a few hundred bucks, given "it's a nice house".

I would wager it maybe is the same thing that your referencing to as "remodelers." 

I am not interested in paying a title search company to do a preliminary scrub on properties I may be interested in, So please do not suggest for me to locate a title company to do title search.