Online House Hunting

How can you find out online what the leans on a house that you want to buy are?

They owe 3 years of back taxes and we want to find out how much it is.

Public Comments

1. Do you mean liens?
2. Go to the county treasures office and ask them. In some states it is the county clerks office. Usually their websites have a serch where you can enter the Parcel Identification number and find out about the back taxes. Sometimes you can do it by street address, but not all counties allow this. If you dont have the PIN then you will have to contact a title company and give them the address, they will give you the Parcel number, it is public information. Some counties don't have websites like these but you can call them with the informatio and they will give it to you.
3. You can find out but usually not online. Call your county tax assessor and ask them how to get this public information. Each county has their own way of handling this so what works here will not work where you are.
4. order and read the preliminary title report, it is the most important document in my opinion of a transaction-it will give the name of who owns the property, any easements, and any clouds. The seller usually pays for this as a part of the transaction ($99)-"closing costs". In San Francisco, we order it upon signing a listing and it is available to any prospective buyer to review. But I know in other parts of the country disclosures don't come until a contract. But any contract you sign would give you a way out of the deal if you do not approve of any disclosures, like the pre-lim. Sellers are responsible to deliver properties with clean titles, meaning any liens on the property are taken care of(paid off) either before close of escrow (COE) or at COE. Sometimes, I have done this, the buyer takes on the liens. BUT VERY RARELY and ONLY DURING VERY SPECIFIC SITUATIONS INVOLVING VERY SAVVY BUYERS OF INVESTMENT PROPERTIES.