I have benn interested mostly in tax lien certificates, MF,  lending money, and Fix and Flip.  

A property can be sold 'AS IS WHERE IS' but still requires the inspection and certificate to be issued by the building department.

I bought SFH in March at foreclosure auction and got certificate of title on this property.

(note: landlord must apply for and receive a certificate of exemption from the Rent Control Board).

A letter can not be recorded as evidence that the lien has been released.You need a certificate of satisfaction, a document that that has been notarized, which affirms that the lien has been satisfied and is released. 

The county instructed me to provide them original death certificate and to remove the decease from the Deed.

When I checked the website that the tenant used, it shows that I only need to pay $80 or so to get one of the certificates. 

Learning is learning, whether it comes with a fancy certificate or not. 

@Troy Williams Short of academic knowledge (which is very important), these certifications will not help you practically i.e. get a job or be taken more seriously by folks within RE.

Every appraisal I paid for or saw when I was a loan officer had several pictures of each of the properties used as comps, a write up of the way the appraiser determined his opinion of values, all of the metrics of each property and was about 15 pages when you include his certifications and licenses and all the fluff.