I was talking to a friend who was looking at purchasing a piece of property. He was nervous because it was to be his first home and asked me about liens.
How Do I Find Out if there are Any Liens on a Property?
The answer is pretty straight forward. For the most part, liens are a matter of public record once recorded. To find if there are any liens, here are your options:
- Search the county recorder, clerk, or assessors office online. All you need is the name of the property owner, or it’s address. If your county does not have the data online, then:
- Visit the county recorder, clerk, or assessor’s office in person. Generally, you will find that these people will be quite helpful, and could give you pointers if you need any.
- Contact a title company. Title representatives can be extremely helpful in many ways . . . finding liens is one of them. I strongly advise having a good title rep as part of your investing team!
With that in mind, Title Insurance is there to protect you as the buyer from liens you did not expect such as last minute liens, or those that may not have been known or recorded. Like other insurance, they will write a check to deal with the liens if they are missed. If you want to protect yourself from any potential liens, you want to be sure to purchase an owner’s policy. It is an owner’s title policy, not a lender’s policy that protects the buyer of the property.
Keep in mind that you shouldn’t count on the word of the seller or even your real estate agent, as they may not necessarily know about all liens or possible defects in the title.
Article Author:
Joshua DorkinJoshua has written 539 articles for us.
Visit Joshua's Website: http://www.biggerpockets.com/
BiggerPockets.com was founded by Joshua Reed Dorkin in August 2004. An entrepreneur, web designer, real estate investor, and one-time realtor, Joshua was not satisfied by the online offerings of other real estate sites out there, and decided to build one himself. Mr. Dorkin's vision for BiggerPockets has helped to propel it into becoming one of the top real estate destinations online. His vision for the site and its future has brought national press attention to both Mr. Dorkin and to BiggerPockets.
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I am in Chicago and there are excellent sites that I use all the time in analyzing a property to look for liens and even existing mortgages. Contact me if you want to know the sites I use plus a lot more.
Please let me know which sites you speak of in regarding liens. Thanks!
please let me know what those sites are, i have been looking and cant find something reliable.
thank you.
Hello,
My question is if there is a lien on my property but that same lien is being garnished from my pay, can the lien be removed due to the garnishment?
If not what are the alternatives to have this lien removed?
My concerns are if my home was to sell will I be refunded back all that was taken from garnishment?
Can this company that placed the lien continue to add interest and other penalties while recieving the garnishment or increase the lien amount?
Your assistant would be of great help.
How can I find out if the borrower has paid down any of the liens (mortgage and HELOC)? The county records show the original amounts that were recorded, but I need to know if there is now enough equity to foreclose on the collateral.
RE: “I am in Chicago and there are excellent sites that I use all the time in analyzing a property to look for liens and even existing mortgages. Contact me if you want to know the sites I use plus a lot more.”
Ryan, would you let me what those site are? My family still lives in Chicago.
You can email them to me at info@IslandHouseBuyer.com
Thanks,
Jose
Hello all,
Cooks Assessor website as well as Cook Registry of Deeds website as well. However, the registry of deeds website is not free, so if you are not proffessional searcher, you will end up paying to check on lien documents [ad removed]
Good luck!
Alex