He'll know contracts and the value well, but the transaction can still be closed directly at a title or attorneys office without official brokerage listing or commissions paid to anyone. 

As per the title, I need a drywall sub for a residential project in the Warren, OH area 44481.

Make sure you conduct a title search for clean title.Good Luck.

But I know there are mandatory things a title company must do for the transaction.

He should have run a prelim title report to identify junior lien holders, as tour your offer may have to be structured differently to deal with them, ie. lower purchase price as you may have to contribute additional cash to satisfy am junior lien.There’s too much to learn for You to know everything involved.The list price is irrelevant, the price the bank will eventually accept is what matters.Worst case, get a contract executed, provide a legit POF or preapproval, see where the bank comes back.

Do I do a title search on my own, before or after I make the offer?

If such investigation reveals good cause for the Attorney General's office to believe there has been a violation of this section, the Attorney General's office may issue such cease and desist orders in accordance with Chapter 25 of Title 29 as are required to remedy the violation. 70 Del.

If title is surrendered and home deeded to property, it becomes real property and the home would appreciate in value in an appreciated market.  

-Settlement Fee: $595-795 depending which title company you hire to close the transaction-Owner's Title Insurance Policy: Roughly 0.2-0.3% of the purchase price-Recording Fees and other Misc: Another couple hundred dollarsFees that will only be present if you are using a mortgage to purchase the property:-Origination Fee: Varies and is typically represented as a percentage of the loan amount-Lender's title insurance: Another roughly 0.2% of the loan amount-Appraisal: $500-650-Misc Junk Fees: Processing, credit report, flood cert, etc etc etc: A few hundred to a thousand dollars depending on the mortgage companyCosts that are not fees but still need to be settled at closing:-Prepaid interest (if there's a mortgage)-First year insurance premium-Impounds to set up tax and insurance escrow accounts (if there's a mortgage that escrows T&I): A few month's worth of each-Prorated taxes, water, sewer-Heating fuel remaining in tanksWelcome to New Hampshire, and happy investing,Troy

If its an off-market property, I would contact your favorite local Title Rep and provide them an area of interest and they can provide you all of the property owner mailing address on a spreadsheet... then you can simply narrow down the owners that are absentee to target.