What a Title Search Finds Before You Sell
3 min read · Last updated 2026-08-03 · Reviewed by Camilo Palacio, Licensed Florida Real Estate Professional (License #3280644, REALTOR®)
A title search finds every recorded claim against your house before a buyer's lender will fund the purchase: mortgages, tax liens, judgment liens, HOA liens, easements, and any lawsuit filed against the property. Cash Flow Deals is one seller option that runs this search through Silver Door Realty's title partner as part of getting your file to closing, the same search any lender requires before funding a purchase.
| Factor | Traditional Listing | Cash Flow Deals |
|---|---|---|
| Timeline | Title search usually starts after you accept an offer, so a hidden lien can surface weeks into a listing and delay closing | Title search runs through Silver Door Realty's title partner as part of getting to closing, so lien issues surface early in the process |
| Repairs | A title search doesn't touch repairs, but a lien dispute found late can stall closing at the same time as a repair negotiation | Repairs get scoped after your net price is already locked, separate from whatever the title search finds |
| Fees / Costs | Buyer typically pays for the title search itself, but the seller pays to clear any lien the search turns up, on top of commissions | Cash Flow Deals is paid as a separate line item on the closing statement, and lien payoffs get handled at closing through the title company |
| What Gets Checked | Depends on which title company the buyer's lender chooses | Handled through Silver Door Realty's licensed title partner for every file |
What a Title Search Actually Pulls Up
A Florida title search runs the property's ownership history back through the public record, usually to the last title insurance policy or further, and compiles everything attached to the property along the way. That includes the current owner of record, the legal description, every past deed transfer, all recorded mortgages and any transfers between lenders, and every lien: tax liens, mechanic's liens from unpaid contractor work, HOA liens, code enforcement liens, IRS liens, and child support liens. It also picks up easements that give someone else the right to use part of the land, deed restrictions that limit how the property can be used, and any lis pendens, the recorded notice that a lawsuit involving the property is already underway.
Judgment Liens Specifically, and Why They Don't Expire Fast
A judgment lien attaches when someone wins a lawsuit against you and records that judgment in the county where your house sits. Under Florida Statute 55.10, a recorded judgment becomes a lien on your real property for an initial 10 years from the recording date, and the person holding the judgment can renew it for another 10 years by rerecording before the first period runs out. Florida law caps the total lien life at 20 years from the date the judgment was entered. That means a lawsuit you settled or forgot about a decade ago can still show up on a title search today if the other side kept the lien current.
Cash Flow Deals' Process for Handling What the Title Search Finds
Cash Flow Deals' Process: 1. Request your net-price walkthrough with Cash Flow Deals before any title work starts. 2. Cash Flow Deals connects your property with a real FHA or conventional buyer, and Silver Door Realty's title partner opens the title search on the file. 3. Any lien, easement, or lis pendens the search finds gets flagged and priced against what's owed, not guessed at. 4. You see exactly what has to get paid off or resolved at closing, and how it affects your proceeds, before you're standing at the closing table. 5. Title transfers once, directly from you to the buyer, only after every recorded claim the search found is cleared or accounted for. Cash Flow Deals is a Florida real estate investor that locks in a net price for a seller's house before repairs are scoped, using a novation-based, flat-fee process arranged through its licensed FL brokerage partner, Silver Door Realty — not a traditional listing, and not a brokerage itself.
What Happens When the Search Finds a Problem
Most title search findings aren't disqualifying, they're just items that need a payoff before closing. An old mortgage that was never formally satisfied in the public record gets a payoff letter and a satisfaction filed. A contractor's mechanic's lien from a repair job years ago gets paid or disputed. A judgment lien under Florida Statute 55.10 gets paid off from sale proceeds at closing, the same way a mortgage does. The title search doesn't decide whether you can sell, it just tells everyone at the table what has to get resolved first, and how much of your proceeds that resolution is going to take.
Why Sellers Get Surprised By Their Own Title
A seller who's owned a house for years usually doesn't know everything sitting on their own title, because most liens get recorded without a phone call to the property owner first. A code enforcement lien from a fence height violation, an HOA lien from a few months of unpaid dues during a hard year, or a contractor's lien from a dispute over a repair bill can all sit quietly in the public record for years before a title search surfaces them. None of that makes the house unsellable. It just means the number you thought you'd walk away with at closing needs to account for what the title search actually finds, not what you remember owing.
Common questions
How long does a Florida title search take?
It varies by county and how far back the search has to go, but most residential title searches in Florida take a few business days to about two weeks once the file is opened with a title company.
Does a title search find liens I don't know about?
Yes. Liens get recorded in the public record without notifying the property owner directly, so tax liens, judgment liens, HOA liens, and code enforcement liens can all surface on a title search that a seller had no idea existed.
How long does a judgment lien last in Florida?
Under Florida Statute 55.10, a recorded judgment lien lasts an initial 10 years, renewable once for another 10 years, for a maximum of 20 years from the date the judgment was entered.
Can I sell my house if the title search finds a lien?
Usually yes. Most liens get paid off from your sale proceeds at closing rather than blocking the sale outright. Confirm anything unusual with a licensed FL real estate attorney, since some liens require more than a simple payoff to clear.