You already know the property in the photos and the property in the records are two different assets. The second one is where the money is won or lost — a lien that survives the foreclosure, a code case compounding daily that never became a lien, an owner who can’t actually convey. Here’s the full record we pull on a folio, and why each line can make or break your number.
Recorded encumbrances — and what survives the sale
Liens, mortgages, judgments, lis pendens — everything recorded against the folio. But the list isn’t the point; the survival call is. We tag each encumbrance with whether a foreclosure or tax deed wipes it or whether it runs with the land: governmental liens survive a tax deed under Florida law (§197.552), PACE and special assessments carry super-priority, junior liens may be wiped. We flag a construction lien that’s likely lapsed under §713.22, and the satisfactions that were paid but never released — so you’re not pricing a ghost or eating a survivor.
At auction the wiped lien isn’t your problem. The one that runs with the land is — and it follows the title, not the prior owner.
Open code-enforcement balances, live and accruing
The distress that bites hardest is the open code case that hasn’t hardened into a recorded lien yet — invisible to a standard title search. We pull it live from the county at report time, with a current balance that climbs every day until it’s cured. As an in-rem obligation it’s attached to the dirt. It’s also your single best negotiation lever: an exact, dated number beats “there might be something here.”
Tax status, live
Current tax status and the balance owed, pulled live — delinquent, escrowed, or clean. Let it run far enough behind and the county sells a tax certificate against it. You want to know which side of that line a parcel sits on before you bid or lock up a contract.
Permits, unpermitted work, and asset mismatches
Active, expired, and never-finaled permits — the open permit that detonates at the buyer’s due diligence. We also flag asset mismatches: a parcel the county codes as vacant land that its own records show carries a structure (an unpermitted build, an unrecorded demolition, or a lagging database — all three change your exit), and open structural violations with no permits of record.
Ownership, chain of title, and the liens a folio search misses
Who actually owns it, the recorded chain behind them, and an entity-mismatch flag when the owner of record doesn’t line up with the last recorded grantee — the cloud that quietly stalls a closing. Plus the edge a folio-only lookup can’t give you: we search the owner’s name too, surfacing mortgages and judgments a lender recorded against the person but never tied back to the folio.
Environmental and sewer
Miami-Dade DERM environmental cases (contamination, improper fill) and county sewer-connection mandates — five-figure forced costs that attach to the property and never show on a standard title search.
Then we call it
Every report ends with a deterministic summary that flags what’s worth a second look — survival pills, accruing balances, mismatches — with each line linked straight back to its county source, so the report itself is the evidence you carry into the negotiation. And we’re honest about reach: county-recorded items county-wide; live code and permits for unincorporated Miami-Dade and the City of Miami, with the gap named on the page where we don’t yet cover a city.
Where we stop
This is the fast, pre-commitment read — not a certified title search, and not title insurance. For the close you’ll still want a title commitment. It’s the $59 look that tells you whether a folio is even worth the certified search, and exactly what’s attached to it if you move.
Keep reading
- Foreclosure & auction buyersWhich liens survive the sale — settled before you bid, not after.
- Wholesalers & lien buyersTriage at volume, and the hidden distress that moves a price.
- Realtors & listing agentsKill the closing-table surprise before the buyer's agent finds it.
- Why pull one before you bidThe moments $59 changes the number — auction, assignment, listing.
- Vs. a national title serviceWhy the national search misses the local, surviving risk.