Liens, back taxes, and probate get solved at the closing table

Title companies exist because houses collect paper. Tax liens, HOA liens, solar liens, a leftover judgment, a child-support lien nobody mentioned, a refinance that never reconveyed. Common. Solvable more often than people think.

They get paid from proceeds at closing. That is what escrow is for.

What Sean needs on day one

Anything you know. “There might be a tax bill” is useful. “My brother is on title and we have not spoken since 2019” is useful. “There is a solar lease and I cannot find the paperwork” is useful.

What is not useful is surprising the title company ten days before funding. The number will change. The date will slide. That is not a bait-and-switch. That is a lien that has to be paid for the buyer to get clean title.

Probate is slower, not impossible

If the house is in an estate, the court or the trust document decides who can sign. A cash buyer cannot invent a signer. He can wait, or he can close with the personal representative when the letters are in hand.

If you are the person who can sign, say so. If you are not, say that too. The offer will wait for the authority. It will not pretend the authority exists.

Back taxes

County tax is usually straightforward: a payoff letter, paid at closing, deducted from your net. That lowers the walk-away number. It does not block the sale unless the amount wipes out the equity and nobody is willing to take a short.

Bring the bill. The tool on this site lets you add what you owe into the mortgage slider as a stand-in. For a real offer, send the actual figures.