Here is how to do a title search as a wholesaler: pull the seller’s vesting deed from the county recorder’s online index, trace the grantor-grantee chain backward, then search the seller’s name for every mortgage, lien, judgment and lis pendens that has no matching release. Before you market the deal, add a property tax check with the tax collector and, in places like Florida, a municipal lien search, because some city debts never hit the land records.
A DIY search does not replace a title company. It is a quick screen that tells you whether the deal can close at your contract price before you pitch it to buyers.
Why wholesalers run title earlier than homebuyers do
Homebuyer guides assume a lender orders title after the offer is accepted. You have a short inspection window, a buyer list waiting, and a fee that exists only if the seller can deliver clear title at your price. So run two passes: your own screen right after signing, while you can still renegotiate, and the title company’s commitment, opened the same day. Your wholesale purchase contract should include a title contingency and inspection period so either pass can change the deal without costing you your earnest money.
How to do a title search step by step (the quick DIY screen)
Step 1: Pin down the parcel and the exact owner names
From the county assessor or appraiser site, copy the parcel number, legal description, and owner names exactly, including middle initials, “Jr.,” and trust or LLC names. Liens are indexed by name, so “Robert Smith” can miss a judgment against “Robert L. Smith Jr.” List every variation and prior name.
Step 2: Find the recorder’s online index
The office may be called the county recorder, register of deeds, county clerk, or clerk of court. Many counties offer an online official records search; some put only the index online and charge for images, and a few still require a visit. Use a search that filters by document type and date.
Step 3: Pull the vesting deed
Search the owner as grantee; the latest deed into them is the vesting deed. Read it: who took title (one spouse or both, a person or a trust), what kind of deed, and whether the legal description matches the assessor’s. If your seller is not on it, stop and find out who can sign.
Step 4: Walk the grantor-grantee chain backward
Each owner should appear once as grantee (taking title) and once as grantor (conveying it). Search the seller’s grantor as a grantee, then that person’s grantor, and keep going. For a screen, two or three prior owners is a practical target; the title company goes further. Flag:
- An owner who died with no probate deed, affidavit of heirship, or similar transfer on record.
- A quitclaim deed between strangers, or a deed signed by only one of two co-owners.
- A legal description that changes between deeds.
- A deed out of an LLC or corporation with no evidence of who was authorized to sign.
Step 5: Match every mortgage to a release
Search the owner as grantor (many indexes list the borrower as grantor on a mortgage). List every mortgage, deed of trust and HELOC since the vesting deed, and find a satisfaction, release or reconveyance that cites each one by book and page or instrument number. No matching release means treat it as open until the seller shows a payoff letter or recorded satisfaction. Forgotten HELOCs are a classic surprise.
Step 6: Run the owner names for liens and lawsuits
Search every name variation for judgments, federal and state tax lien notices, mechanic’s liens, HOA claims of lien, code enforcement orders, and lis pendens. Then check the court docket for open foreclosure, divorce and probate cases; the docket shows how far along a case is.
Step 7: Check taxes and off-record debts
At the treasurer or tax collector, note unpaid taxes, prior-year delinquencies, and any tax certificate sale or tax deed application (see tax lien vs. tax deed for why that changes your timeline). Then ask the city about utility balances, open permits and code cases.
Liens that matter and the rules behind them
Federal tax liens
Under 26 U.S.C. § 6321, unpaid federal tax becomes a lien on all of the taxpayer’s property after demand, but § 6323(a) makes it invalid against a purchaser, mortgage holder, mechanic’s lienor or judgment lien creditor until a Notice of Federal Tax Lien is filed. For real property, § 6323(f) sends the notice to the office the state designates, or to the federal district court clerk if the state has not designated one. Florida designates the county clerk of the circuit court (Fla. Stat. § 713.901); confirm your state’s office.
The IRS says it releases a lien within 30 days after the debt is paid, so a recently paid lien may still look open. And under 26 U.S.C. § 7425, a nonjudicial foreclosure sale is subject to the lien if the notice was filed more than 30 days before the sale and the IRS did not get written notice at least 25 days before it; even otherwise, the United States has 120 days (or the longer local period) to redeem. Watch for this when your seller bought at auction.
Mechanic’s liens and their filing windows
Contractors record after the work is done, so a recently renovated house can pick up a lien after your search. Deadlines vary by state:
- Florida: no later than 90 days after the lienor’s final furnishing of labor, services or materials (Fla. Stat. § 713.08(5)).
- California: a direct contractor must record before the earlier of 90 days after completion of the work of improvement or 60 days after the owner records a notice of completion or cessation (Cal. Civ. Code § 8412).
- Texas: on a residential construction project, the affidavit is due by the 15th day of the third month after the month the work was completed, terminated or abandoned, with one more month allowed on other projects (Tex. Prop. Code § 53.052).
If you see fresh permits or a new roof, ask for paid invoices and lien waivers.
Judgments, HOA and code liens, and property taxes
Judgment liens follow state law. In Florida, a judgment becomes a lien when a certified copy is recorded in the county with the creditor’s address, lasting 10 years (for liens recorded on or after July 1, 1994), extendable once by re-recording (Fla. Stat. § 55.10). Other states use different mechanics and durations.
Florida makes a new owner jointly and severally liable with the prior owner for unpaid HOA assessments that came due before the transfer (Fla. Stat. § 720.3085), which is why an association estoppel letter matters. A recorded certified order imposing a code fine is a lien on the land, and fines accrue until compliance (Fla. Stat. § 162.09(3)). Property taxes are a first lien, superior to all others, from January 1 of the levy year (Fla. Stat. § 197.122).
Debts the land records will not show
A Florida lien-search vendor notes that many Florida municipalities do not record utility balances, open permits or code violations until legal action, so a standard title search misses them. The City of Umatilla, Florida, for example, covers liens, unpaid utilities, open or expired permits and code violations in its lien search, with standard results in 3 to 5 business days (as of October 2026, per the city). Ask your title company whether it orders one.
Lien cheat sheet for wholesale deals
Priority and survival rules vary by state and by how the foreclosure is run. Use this as a map of what to ask, then let the title company confirm.
| Lien type | Where to look | Priority notes | Survives foreclosure? | Typical fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mortgage / deed of trust / HELOC | Recorder’s index under owner as grantor | Generally first in time, first in right | Junior ones are usually wiped by a senior foreclosure if properly named | Payoff at closing; recorded satisfaction for paid loans |
| Property tax | Treasurer or tax collector | Often superior to all other liens (e.g., Fla. Stat. § 197.122) | Generally yes against a mortgage foreclosure | Paid from seller proceeds |
| Federal tax lien (NFTL) | State-designated office (Florida: clerk of circuit court) | Not valid against purchasers and others until notice filed (26 U.S.C. § 6323) | Can survive a nonjudicial sale without proper notice; 120-day redemption right (§ 7425) | Payoff, or IRS discharge of the property |
| State tax warrant / lien | Recorder or court, varies by state | Set by state statute | Varies | Payoff letter from state revenue agency |
| Judgment lien | Recorder or clerk, indexed by debtor name | Usually by recording date | Junior ones usually wiped if named | Payoff or negotiated satisfaction |
| Mechanic’s lien | Recorder; watch the filing window | Can relate back to start of work in some states | Depends on state and timing | Lien waiver, payoff, or bond |
| HOA lien | Recorder plus association estoppel | Some states give limited priority over mortgages | Unpaid amounts can follow the owner (Fla. Stat. § 720.3085) | Estoppel and payoff at closing |
| Code / municipal / utility | Recorder for recorded orders; city for the rest | Set by local ordinance and state law | Varies widely | Cure the violation, request fine reduction, pay balance |
Probate and divorce: who can actually sign
Signing authority kills as many deals as liens. If the owner on the vesting deed has died, you usually need a court-appointed personal representative or the heirs, depending on the state and how title was held; a contract signed by “the son who handles things” may not bind anyone. Read our guide to probate leads before signing an estate seller. For divorce, check the docket: both titled spouses must sign, some states give a non-titled spouse homestead or marital rights, and a pending case may restrict a sale.
What the title commitment adds, and how to read Schedule B
Once you open title, the title company issues a commitment for title insurance. Stewart’s underwriting guidelines for the ALTA commitment lay out the standard structure:
- Schedule A lists the commitment date, policies, proposed insured, amount, current vesting and legal description. The commitment is not effective without a named proposed insured.
- Schedule B, Part I (Requirements) lists what must happen before the policy issues: payoffs, releases, a probate order, a spouse’s signature. If they are not met within the stated period, the commitment terminates.
- Schedule B, Part II (Exceptions) lists what the policy will not cover, including matters first appearing after the commitment date, easements and restrictions.
For each Part I requirement, ask “Can the seller do this before closing?” For each Part II exception, ask whether your buyer will care; an access easement may be fine, an unreleased mortgage is not. And because Schedule A names the proposed insured, send the signed assignment early so the commitment can be updated to your buyer. An investor-friendly title company handles that routinely. Once the commitment is clean, decide who buys which policy with our guide to owner’s and lender’s title policies for investors.
DIY never replaces this. The title company searches deeper and backs its work with insurance; the CFPB describes owner’s title insurance as protection if someone later claims an interest from before the purchase, such as a prior owner’s unpaid taxes or contractors. Your laptop search cannot insure against forgeries or indexing errors.
Worked example: two problems that reshaped a deal
Hypothetical. A wholesaler signs a Florida house at $150,000 with an estimated ARV of $235,000 and repairs of $40,000. The seller says the only debt is a first mortgage of about $88,000. The plan is to assign at $165,000 for a hypothetical $15,000 fee.
Problem 1: a federal tax lien. The name search finds a Notice of Federal Tax Lien against the seller for $12,400. It can be paid from his proceeds, so the price holds, but his net drops by $12,400. The wholesaler shows him the notice and recalculates his net in writing now, not at the closing table.
Problem 2: a recorded code lien. An order imposing an accruing fine was recorded for an unpermitted carport. The fine can be paid from proceeds, but the buyer inherits the cure and prices removal at $4,000. The wholesaler renegotiates to $146,000, keeps the $15,000 fee, and assigns at $161,000 with both issues disclosed.
| Hypothetical figure | Before search | After search |
|---|---|---|
| Contract price | $150,000 | $146,000 |
| Assignment price to buyer | $165,000 | $161,000 |
| Assignment fee | $15,000 | $15,000 |
| Known liens paid from seller proceeds | $88,000 | $100,400 plus code fine |
Without the search, the buyer’s title company would have found both items after assignment, inviting a retrade. Rerun the MAO calculator whenever a cure cost appears.
Red flags that kill wholesale deals
- Liens exceed the contract price. Unless lienholders agree to a short payoff, the seller cannot deliver clear title.
- A foreclosure sale date is close. Your closing has to beat the auction, and the lender has to provide a payoff in time.
- A dead owner and no probate. Opening an estate takes court time your buyer may not wait for.
- Missing co-owners or a spouse who will not sign.
- A tax deed application or completed tax sale.
- Accruing code fines with no path to compliance.
- Wild deeds or a break in the chain that needs a quiet title lawsuit.
If you cannot see a cure that fits inside your contract dates, use your contingency and move on. Beginners lose money by marketing first and searching later, or by recording a memorandum of contract on a deal that then has to be released.
Pre-assignment title checklist
- Parcel number, legal description, and every owner name variation saved.
- Vesting deed read; signer authority confirmed.
- Chain traced back through at least two prior owners with no gaps.
- Every mortgage matched to a release, or listed as open with an estimated payoff.
- Name search for judgments, federal and state tax liens, mechanic’s liens, HOA and code liens, and lis pendens.
- Court docket checked for foreclosure, probate and divorce.
- Tax status confirmed, including any tax certificate or tax deed application.
- Municipal lien, permit and utility search ordered where available.
- Seller’s net recalculated with every lien; seller told in writing.
- Title opened, commitment reviewed line by line, assignment sent so Schedule A can be updated.
Title search questions wholesalers ask
Should I search before or after signing the contract?
Both, if you can. A five-minute look at the vesting deed and open mortgages before your offer helps you write a realistic offer. The full DIY screen should happen within the first day or two after signing, while your inspection period is open.
How long does a DIY title search take?
It depends on the county’s online system and the property’s history. A recently sold house in a well-indexed county goes fast; an estate property with paper-only records takes far longer.
Does a double close change the title work?
Yes. In a double closing you take title briefly, so there are two transactions and two sets of title requirements. The underlying liens are the same, but you become an owner in the chain.
Can I skip the title company if my DIY search is clean?
No. Your search cannot catch forgeries, indexing errors or off-record claims, and your end buyer’s lender will require title insurance anyway. Use your search to screen deals and the title company to close them.
Keep your deals closable
Screen title before you blast the deal
Grab the free starter kit: the deal analyzer, starter contracts with title and inspection contingencies, a seller script, and a buyer’s list checklist, so a lien surprise never costs you the assignment.