Selling a Manteca House With Liens on the Property
During the process of selling a Manteca house, many homeowners face surprises. Sometimes there are major repairs that are discovered that they did not know about, or there are liens on the property that were not known about. These surprises can bring negotiations to a screeching halt until the problem is solved. There are options if there is a lien on the Manteca house during a sale, but the quickest option is to pay the lien and move on.
Liens
A lien can be put on a Manteca property for a variety of reasons. They are notices to the owner of the property that they have a debt that must be paid. These notices will be tied to the property until the debt is paid in full. Liens can vary from unpaid taxes to debt to a contractor that has done work on the property.
Learning About Liens
During a Manteca home sale, there should always be a title search before the process is complete. A title search will show any outstanding liens that are on the property. If these liens are on the property, the title company will deem it not in the owner’s legal right to make a sale until the debt has been paid in full.
Sometimes a Manteca homeowner is aware of a lien, but many times they will learn about them during the sale process. If a lien is new, the Manteca homeowner may not have received notice that it has been placed on the property. Old liens sometimes fall by the wayside. Owners get busy and they fail to pay off these debts for long periods of times or until a situation forces them to pay them off.
Incorrect Liens
There are instances where a lien has been placed on a property that are not correct. A lien that has been placed on a property incorrectly can be hard to dispute. An owner does have the option to take the lien holder to court to fight against the lien. This means paying a lawyer and legal fees. Often times it is cheaper to pay the lien rather than fight it.
A court case can take a long period of time to complete. If an owner does not want to pay the lien, they will have to wait until the case is complete in order to complete a sale of the Manteca property. With an active lien on the property, the title will not be released for sale. Taking the time to fight a lien may mean losing out on a potential buyer. There are few Manteca buyers that will wait the extended period of time it takes to complete a court case.
Learning about a lien on a property at the last minute can be a shock. Many Manteca homeowners find unexpected liens on their property as they are trying to close on a sale. This can cause problems for the owner, who now needs to pay these unexpected costs, but it also can cause problems for a buyer who has to wait for the owner to resolve these problems.
Taking care of liens right away and avoiding disputes with the lien holder will make this process go much more quickly.