Jurisdiction-specific guides on foreclosure title risks, lien priority, and what survives the auction sale — written for investors who bid at courthouse steps, trustee sales, and online auctions.
Browse by State
July 31, 2026
St. Louis City operates under Missouri's Torrens Act, creating a parallel title registration system that renders standard deed chain searches incomplete for foreclosure buyers.
Read more →July 29, 2026
Tennessee's non-judicial foreclosure through substitute trustees creates specific title risks that standard searches miss — from defective notice to unrecorded assignments.
Read more →July 28, 2026
Maryland ground rents predate the Republic and survive tax sales, mortgage foreclosures, and deed transfers. Here's why auction buyers inherit this perpetual obligation.
Read more →July 23, 2026
Georgia's newspaper foreclosure notices meet statutory requirements but omit critical title defects. Here's what seasoned investors miss.
Read more →July 20, 2026
Ohio's Dormant Mineral Act was supposed to reunite severed mineral rights with surface estates. Here's why it often fails — and what bidders at sheriff's sales must verify.
Read more →July 19, 2026
Florida's constitutional homestead protection creates unique title risks at foreclosure—from surviving spouse claims to improper joinder that can unwind your purchase years later.
Read more →July 9, 2026
Maryland ground rent creates a superior estate that survives tax sales and mortgage foreclosures. Baltimore investors face redemption, ejectment, and total loss.
Read more →July 3, 2026
Ohio guardian deeds require specific probate court approval under R.C. 2111.18. Without it, the conveyance is void — and the defect survives foreclosure.
Read more →July 2, 2026
Pennsylvania confession of judgment clauses let lenders file liens instantly—sometimes before any default occurs. Here's why your title search may miss them.
Read more →July 2, 2026
A forged mortgage satisfaction in Essex County left a foreclosure buyer facing a $340,000 lien the title search showed as released. Here's how it happened.
Read more →July 1, 2026
In Illinois, a recorded air rights lease senior to the mortgage survives foreclosure — and the new owner inherits a building they can't legally occupy above a certain floor.
Read more →July 1, 2026
Texas foreclosure buyers often assume first-filed liens win. Under the Supremacy Clause, IRS liens follow different rules—and they can survive your purchase.
Read more →June 30, 2026
Texas courts imply easements by necessity over adjacent parcels when land becomes landlocked through subdivision—rights that bind foreclosure buyers.
Read more →June 29, 2026
Ohio's lot consolidation process can merge parcels into a new legal description that doesn't match prior deeds—foreclosure buyers inherit the gap.
Read more →June 29, 2026
Florida timeshare deeds recorded before the mortgage create senior interests that survive foreclosure — leaving auction buyers with a fractional ownership nightmare.
Read more →June 28, 2026
In New York, co-op foreclosures involve personal property liens on shares—not real estate. Miss this distinction and your auction purchase may be worthless.
Read more →June 28, 2026
Florida timeshare intervals recorded as real property interests can survive foreclosure if not properly joined. A $45,000 condo purchase becomes worthless.
Read more →June 27, 2026
Federal customs liens in San Diego and Imperial counties survive foreclosure and attach to mixed-use properties — often invisible until you own the problem.
Read more →June 27, 2026
Florida investors buying from personal injury plaintiffs face federal Medicare liens that attach to settlement proceeds—including real estate purchased with those funds.
Read more →June 26, 2026
Cook County zoning violations attach to the land, not the owner. Buy a foreclosure with an unresolved code case and you inherit the fines, the abatement orders, and the demolition risk.
Read more →June 25, 2026
Florida investors discover post-auction that Army Corps wetlands jurisdiction eliminates buildable acreage — a risk standard title searches never reveal.
Read more →June 24, 2026
Texas heirs can void property transfers years after closing by proving duress or undue influence — a title risk that survives foreclosure and standard searches.
Read more →June 24, 2026
A grantor's mental incapacity doesn't make a Texas deed voidable — it makes it void ab initio. Here's how this destroys title chains at foreclosure.
Read more →June 23, 2026
Texas investors face catastrophic losses when fraudulent deed conveyances—executed by identity thieves—create a chain of title that appears clean but is legally void.
Read more →June 23, 2026
Texas lenders can foreclose without the original note using a lost note affidavit — but these create title risks that persist after the sale.
Read more →June 22, 2026
A missing venue statement or defective jurat in Texas can render your foreclosure deed voidable for years. Here's what title searches miss.
Read more →June 22, 2026
Texas county recording outages create priority gaps that can subordinate your foreclosure deed to instruments filed during downtime windows.
Read more →June 21, 2026
A California investor bought a property expecting clear title, only to discover an unrecorded subordination agreement left a $340,000 construction loan in first position.
Read more →June 20, 2026
California's recorded assignments of rents can bind foreclosure buyers, diverting rental income to prior lenders even after the trustee's sale closes.
Read more →June 20, 2026
Kentucky foreclosure buyers face a rarely-discussed risk: USDA Rural Development liens that survive sale and grant the government first refusal rights on resale.
Read more →June 19, 2026
Arizona servicers can record deficiency liens after short sale closings despite anti-deficiency protections. Here's the exact mechanism and why standard searches miss it.
Read more →June 18, 2026
A Texas deed in lieu transferred the property but left a $47,000 second mortgage intact. Here's why the junior lienholder wasn't bound by the deal.
Read more →June 17, 2026
Texas investors face a hidden title risk: deeds signed by LLCs after administrative dissolution may be legally void, not just voidable.
Read more →June 16, 2026
California trust beneficiaries can void trustee property sales years after closing. Here's how this kills foreclosure titles.
Read more →June 16, 2026
A post-deed trust amendment in California can create competing ownership claims that standard title searches miss—leaving auction buyers exposed to litigation.
Read more →June 7, 2026
A Texas wild deed breaks the chain of title and leaves your foreclosure purchase vulnerable to prior claims — even after you record.
Read more →June 6, 2026
Ohio's race-notice recording statute creates a trap when deeds are recorded out of sequence — turning winning bids into title nightmares.
Read more →June 4, 2026
A judgment from another state can be registered in Texas in days, creating a lien that survives foreclosure and blindsides auction buyers.
Read more →June 3, 2026
Ohio foreclosure buyers face hidden ERISA pension liens that survive sheriff's sales. Most title searches miss federal judgment liens tied to pension fraud.
Read more →May 29, 2026
In Arizona, the DEA can file a lis pendens on property tied to drug activity before any judgment—and it survives foreclosure sales.
Read more →May 27, 2026
A missing CO means your lender's collateral is legally uninhabitable. Here's why this kills deals at the wire and how to catch it earlier.
Read more →May 26, 2026
Unpermitted structures can trigger demolition orders that survive foreclosure — and the cost falls on whoever holds title when enforcement begins.
Read more →May 25, 2026
A deed covenant from 1987 can block your gut rehab in 2024 — and the foreclosure sale didn't extinguish it.
Read more →May 24, 2026
Agricultural conservation easements run with the land forever, blocking subdivision and development regardless of zoning changes or new ownership.
Read more →May 23, 2026
Mineral leases run with the land and survive foreclosure. That foreclosure flip in shale country may come with a decades-long production agreement you can't terminate.
Read more →May 22, 2026
Mineral estates severed in the 1950s can still grant drilling access today. Your foreclosure deed won't mention them.
Read more →May 21, 2026
UCC fixture filings on solar equipment create security interests that survive foreclosure—and the panels stay bolted to your roof.
Read more →May 20, 2026
A neighbor's decades-old path across the property became a legal easement before the mortgage existed — and your foreclosure deed can't extinguish it.
Read more →May 19, 2026
Prescriptive and implied easements don't appear in title searches but survive foreclosure and can halt your project cold.
Read more →May 18, 2026
A remainderman's interest in a life estate isn't extinguished by foreclosure of the life tenant's debt. Here's what actually transfers at auction.
Read more →May 17, 2026
A POA revoked days before signing can render your foreclosure deed void — and standard searches won't catch the revocation document.
Read more →May 16, 2026
A deed signed by someone under 18 is voidable, not void — meaning the now-adult grantor can disaffirm years later and reclaim the property.
Read more →May 15, 2026
A HELOC with an open draw period can survive first mortgage foreclosure and leave you holding a valid second lien you thought was wiped out.
Read more →May 14, 2026
A recorded satisfaction of mortgage means nothing if the signature was forged. The original lien survives, and you just bought the problem.
Read more →May 13, 2026
When a reverse mortgage borrower dies during foreclosure, the loan becomes immediately due and a new lien priority battle begins.
Read more →May 10, 2026
An unclosed permit from 2019 can block your title policy and force you to inherit code violations you never caused.
Read more →May 7, 2026
PACE assessments maintain super-priority over first mortgages in foreclosure. Here's how investors get blindsided by five-figure energy liens.
Read more →