I found a foreclosure a few years back... it looked like the perfect investment - a two story, 1800 sq ft four bedroom with a quarter acre in a nice subdivision.  It needed a lot of work, but I knew a few things and had a few friends who knew more.

The problem I had was this, I looked through the court records and found a few judgements against the owners... would I inherit these debts?  I also searched, as best I could, the Register of Deeds office and found two mortgages... uh, oh... what would happen if I bought this for a "great price" at the courthouse steps?  Would I be getting a lot more bill than I bargained for?  What else could I do?  I knew I didn't want to pay a lawyer for a title search when I wasn't sure the opening bid would be in the "good deal" range.

The first thought I had was to find a book that teaches me how to do a title search.  So I looked... and looked.  Not much out there.  Then I found a title on the internet... "How to do a title search in [my state]".  Turns out the book was located in the law library.  So I called the library to see if it was checked out.  I was in luck!  No one had it at the time, so I asked the librarian to hold it for me.  He said, "Are you a lawyer?".  "No", I said.  To which he replied, "I'm sorry, I can only check this book out to lawyers." 

Disappointed, but not deterred, I convinced the guy to let me read the book in the library... Then, when I showed up, I convinced him to let me "borrow" the book for a while.  He gratiously let me take it home for a few days.  It wasn't until then that I realized why only lawyers can (should) check out this type of book... It was written purely in legaleze... (did I spell that right?).

So I returned the book and talked to the librarian some more.  He was a sharp guy who seemed to like me.  He asked what I was up to, so I told him.  He then said, "I think you need to talk to an abstractor", and he proceeded to explain to me what an abstractor was... (see my other EBAY guide Foreclosure Buyers - What is an abstractor?).  Then he said the magic words, "I happen to know one.  Let me see if he's in the register of deeds office."  He walked down the hall, found his friend, introduced me, and the rest is history.

His friend, "The Abstractor" sat down with me for about an hour and described the process of conducting a "Cursory Title Search" in order to inexpensively screen properties prior to bidding on them at auction.  This one hour education proved invaluable.  I discovered for the particular house I was interested in, that I could, indeed, buy the property WITHOUT inheriting the encumberances or the second mortgage.  What a deal!!!  I bought it for $104k at the courthouse steps; worked on it for three months; then sold it for $151k exactly 125 days after I closed to buy it.

In this case, that cursory title search turned out to be worth a few thousand dollars.

What'll it be worth to you?

Good luck bidders!

"ShakeMyHand"