PROPERTY LIENS: 7 Things You Should Know

If you have never purchased a home, you may not be familiar with a property lien.

Yet, the last way you want to become acquainted with this concept is by having an unresolved lien on your property.

A property lien can not only be costly for you to resolve, but it can prevent you from selling your property in the future.

The fix?

A property lien search before you purchase.

Here are the top things you must know about property liens.

Let’s get started.

Disclaimer: we are not lawyers, accountants or financial advisors and the information in this video is for informational purposes only. This video is based on our own research and experience and, while we do our best to keep it accurate and up-to-date, but it may contain errors. Please be sure to consult a legal or financial professional before making any investment or purchasing decisions.

Partial Transcript:

Hi guys this is Erika from Gokce Capital. Now, before I begin be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel and turn on notifications.

We give Thomas Jefferson too much credit; he did not invent the lean but because he is Thomas Jefferson. Many believe he did after all. Thomas Jefferson did invent macaroni the
swivel office chair and the dumb waiter. So, surely he could have created something as commonsensical as the lean. Yet he did not as with many of his great legal concepts Jefferson stole the lien from his favorite victim the Romans or to be more accurate from civil law the child of Roman jurors practice but of course Thomas Jefferson being Tomas Jefferson. He took this concept and used it to build something new. In this case his nation's capital but more on that later for regardless of their origin liens are something that every property owner should be aware of and researching property liens is one of the key due diligence items that you will need to perform when buying land. So, if you are a property owner or in the market here are some of the top things you should know
about property liens.
1. A property lien is a financial claim on your property by a creditor and a lien can prevent you from selling your property until the creditor has received their allotted payment.
2. There are two kinds of liens:
a. Voluntary liens which as the name would suggest is a kind of lien that you as the property owner agrees to the most. Common type of voluntary lien is a mortgage
b. But then there are involuntary lanes and this type of lane is usually placed on a property due to unpaid obligation and it is this kind of lien that you should look out for when purchasing property for involuntary liens are the liens that make it difficult to sell
3. There are different kinds of involuntary liens but some of the most common include mechanical or contractor liens and these result when homeowners hire a contractor to perform home improvement projects and then do not pay the agreed upon payment when this happens the contractor is able to place a lien on the property to secure payment owed. Although perhaps the most common kind of involuntary lien is a tax lien. Tax liens are liens that are placed on the property to secure unpaid taxes. Most commonly local property taxes but also the IRS can place a lien on your property for unpaid federal tax payments. And then there are judgement liens. These liens arise from court cases in which it was ruled that you owe money to another party. There are many different reasons why a judgement lien may be placed on a property but some include settlements related to child support, unpaid credit card, debt or medical bills.
4. You can search for liens in public documents. So, if you're looking to purchase a property or you simply want to check whether the property you already own has a lien on it you can do a search yourself because most liens are of public record. To check your property you can search the property address or assessor's parcel number in the county recorder or clerk's office. Sometimes the liens may also show up in the assessor's office but of course the most secure way to check whether liens are recorded against the property is to hire a title search from a title company.
5. You will likely need to satisfy any involuntary liens before selling. As I mentioned earlier involuntary liens are the kinds of liens that can create a
headache primarily..

[AlexTorres-ylgf]

Learning so much from these Vids!!! Love it!

[juve]

What a cool story. Love how you included the visuals and made a boring subject interesting by telling the history of it. As a land investor myself it made me hate liens about this 👌🏼 much less lol.

[A.L.MitchellDeClerck]

this is interesting, but another food for thought is, what is the process for placing a lien on a piece of real estate?