Before selling a house or other property, figure out if the house has a lien put on it. A lien is a valid claim against a property used to secure a debt. Promoting the house does not necessarily remove the lien. Therefore a lien may interfere with the sale, decreasing the proceeds for the vendor or delaying completion of this trade. Fortunately, lien listings are a matter of public record, which makes it simple to determine if there's a lien attached for your house or property.

Get an information packet on the house. Ensure to have the correct address for the property and the title of the county in which the property is situated.

Proceed to the county recorder’s office to the county in which the property is situated. Find a copy of the documents on your house or property. You might need to pay a small fee to get the documents.

Analyze the records. There should be a list in the documents recording any lien filed against the property. When there’s a lien, the listing will consist of information such who filed it, the date it was filed and the amount of the lien.

Hire a real estate attorney to do the search for you if the property is beyond your regional area and you can't make the trip into the county recorder’s office.

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