Posted by JoeS on April 27, 2002 at 06:40:38:
The easiest way is to stipulate in your purchses contract that the SELLER supplies you with a Warranty Deed, a Title policy with both a mortgage and fee clause, a 40 yr redated abstract, 20 yr tax, sewer, and water searches, and a bankruptcy search. All these combined will run approx. $800, give or take. Also stipulate that you can get out of the deal if you are not able to receive “good and insurable marketable Title, free and clear of all liens and encubrances”.
This is how I buy properties. I never have had a problem AFTER I made sure all the above was in my offer to purchase. Doing all that yourself is too time consuming and risky.