Who can I contact for a residential title search?

Question

I may have a couple liens on my property, I want to verify it though. Who should I contact for a title search on the property? What type of company offers this service?

Answer 1

A title & escrow company.  Or a real estate attorney.

Answer 2

title company

look in yellow pages, in strip malls

in Illinois there's Chicago Title Company, Land Title, Greater Illinois Title, etc.

or go to county recorder of deeds and take a look yourself. . . .need PIN--permanent index number of property, from your tax bill

Answer 3

Nothing wrong with the answers you have gotten so far, but you can do this yourself for no cost.  Go to your local county courthouse.  Depending upon where you are, it may be the clerk of court, or the registrar of deeds.  Many of them are now online, so try that first.

You search your name in the indexes as the grantor, beginning with the year you purchased the property and going forward.  Liens are usually recorded just like a "transfer", albeit involuntary.

Be aware that some jurisdictions have a separate lien index, so be sure to ask about that and check it.

If you don't have the time or skills to do this, then you can pay to have it done.  When you go check the records you'll see a lot of "deed dogs", lawyers or paralegals who do the search work for the title companies and law firms (usually as independent contractors).  Sometimes they will help you for free.  In any event, you can save money by paying one of them to do the search for you at his/her "wholesale" rate.

Good luck.

Ben

Answer 4

A title company.