Also, the transaction history in PropertyRadar only includes voluntary liens and transfers - it does not include involuntary liens (mechanics liens, tax liens, judgements), so you will still need to research those regardless.As @David Mitchell said, the best answer is to educate yourself on the title search process, and then you can easily verify the loan positions in PropertyRadar and check for involuntary liens using your local county recorder (often online).Note that even if you pay the title company $150-250 for a title search, those searches do not come with a guarantees and the title companies themselves do make mistakes - thus the reason for title insurance.

You can easily end up with the building equivalent of a beautiful suit coat but no pants. 

So yes, the place is small and the area isn't that great, but it's increased in value almost $250K over the past four years so I'm ready to sell and walk away.Elizabeth Colegrove , I guess I'm "risk averse", and despite a > 800 FICA credit score, I'm not sure how easily I'd get a reasonable mortgage since I'm hoping to use the rental income to replace my W2 income within  couple of years.My basic goal is to purchase enough units (1-2) within two years to cover my day to day expenses until I start drawing from my retirement accounts and portfolio in my mid 60s (20 years from now.)

However i know in fact that they do easily in Houston.Kyle

I could easily afford the monthly payments and told him to give me $15K and I would assume the loan. 

But it does not answer the question of what strategy you should pursue, because you could as easily partner with a hard money lender as a wholesaler or fix/flip guy.My advice is not to give up on buy and hold.  

., 42 for us military folk), I wouldn't have a worry in the world…In my mind, I was only losing about $380/month, and I could easily cover that with my income.

Being in Framingham you can easily try both the Worcester meeting (next Tues) and the Waltham one (The following Tuesday.  

I have family there and I believe I could easily manage a rental or rentals in that market.  

For that price of $400-600k, you could buy 4-6 properties out-of-state easily that would all cash flow and you'd then have the tax benefits and security of 4-6 doors versus dumping all your money into a low- to non-performing property and hoping nothing goes wrong with it.