Subject to purchase with liens

[Sean Monahan]

Hello BP community! Thank you in advance for the help...
Situation: 

I am attempting to help a couple who has fallen behind.  They owe 6k in back taxes, 66k on a 1st lien mortgage, 5k in back owed mortgage payments, and a 3k mechanics lien. These are the liens they know about but they think there are two more that they can't find documentation on.  I went to the county and they don't have anything documented.  Do I just hire a title company for a title search to get all known liens out in the open?  Thank you again!

[Benjamin Aaker]

I agree a title search would give accurate data about the liens, however, you already know that some big combination of liens are there. It's not really worth spending the money on a title search if the sellers (I presume they are sellers) are not going to get those liens satisfied. If they are willing to credit the lien amount to the buyer, then get the title search. If they won't, I wouldn't do anything else because you won't be able to help them. Those liens will put them in a poor negotiating position, though. Better to get them paid now.