Dear Cecile H: The absolute best way is to establish yourself with a title company and you will need to ask them for an Abstract of Title. It wouldn't hurt and would go a long way towards cost if you were to promise them your future escrow and title business.

Good luck--I hope this helps.

Erin Phillips
Keller Williams Realty

Sorry, but I needed to clarify one thing again.

If you go to the Sacramento Recorder's office, you probably won't see the IRS lien showing in their records. It's best to go to a title company and pay for them to give you a complete record that they would issue a title insurance policy against.

The only way to be certain about liens is to pay for a title policy. However, a title company can give you a preliminary title report, but it won't guarantee it. The only guarantee you get it is with a title policy. Your real estate agent most likely has a relationship with a title company -- ask that person to contact title and run a search for you. There is no charge for that. But there's also no guarantee, albeit the chances of error are small.

You can also search the property at Erin at Team Newington suggests at the courthouse. You will run the name of the owner in the grantee records backwards to the date the property was acquired.

You could also go down to the Sacramento County Recorders office. I am assuming the property is in Sacramento. Anyone one can walk in and look up the address and see every recorded document against the property for free.

Here is a link to their office downtown: http://www.ccr.saccounty.net/

Good Luck!

I'm not sure what your question is asking but I'll guess.

If you are asking for a bank owned property, that you are trying to buy on the court house steps, then you need to research what liens may still be active against a property while buying it in foreclosure. Those liens not released in a foreclosure include IRS or other government related liens. To know what these might be would require that you do a title search prior to making a bid on the auction steps. Contact a title company for that service.

If you are talking about other bank owned properties on the market through realtors, the seller (bank of record after the foreclosure process) is providing the property for sale without any additional liens. In other words, you are buying a clear title. And the title company that is executing the purchase for you is providing a title insurance policy to guarantee that.

that's one of the advantages of not buying on the courthouse steps. You avoid any unknown liens that were not identified.