Closings glossary
Foreclosure search
A record search for foreclosure actions touching the property or the current owner. Prior foreclosures in the chain often need extra proof that every necessary party was served.
What is a foreclosure search?
Quick Answer
The full definition
A record search for foreclosure actions touching the property or the current owner. Prior foreclosures in the chain often need extra proof that every necessary party was served.
Which related terms should you know?
These are the terms that come up alongside foreclosure search in the same file.
- Lis pendens
- A notice of pendency recorded against the property when litigation affecting title is filed. It warns the world and binds later purchasers to the result of the case.
- Chain of title
- The sequence of recorded conveyances of a property, from an earlier known owner to the present one. Gaps and defective links in the chain are what a title search is designed to find.
- Judgment lien
- A lien created by docketing a money judgment against the owner. It reaches real property in the county of docketing and is a routine payoff item at a closing.
- Title search
- The records examination behind a title report, covering the chain of title, encumbrances and court filings against the owners. It precedes the commitment.
- Cloud on title
- Any claim or encumbrance that may impair the owner's title. New York owners resolve the serious ones through a quiet title action under RPAPL Article 15.
Where does foreclosure search come up in a New York City closing?
A Bronx house came through a 2014 foreclosure, so the title company asks for the judgment, the referee's deed and proof a junior lienholder was named.
What else should you read before closing?
Questions this raises
- What happens if the title search finds a problem before closing?Schedule B-I requirements are the punch list, not a dead deal. How New York closings clear old liens, missing satisfactions and name hits before th...
- What is curative title work?Curative work clears Schedule B-I before closing: payoffs, missing satisfactions, heirship affidavits, ACRIS indexing fixes and escrow holdbacks in...
Title issues
- Unsatisfied mortgage of recordA paid-off mortgage with no recorded satisfaction still reads as a live lien in ACRIS. Here is how it is found, how it is cleared, and who pays for...
- Judgment lien against the sellerA docketed money judgment attaches to New York real property the seller owns in that county. Here is how it surfaces, how it clears, and who pays it.
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Legal Disclaimer: This page is general information about New York practice. It is not legal advice, it does not account for the terms of any particular contract, building or transaction, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. This is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.