By the time a deal dies, both sides have usually spent money and several weeks, and the thing that killed it was almost always sitting in a public record on day one. What follows is the short list of what actually goes wrong, roughly in order of how often it shows up, and when to look for each one.
The theme is simple: everything here is discoverable before you are emotionally and financially committed. The reason it usually is not discovered is that nobody looks until the title report comes back, and by then you have an inspection paid for and a mortgage in process.
Open permits and open violations
Someone did work years ago, pulled a permit, finished the job and never called for the final inspection. The permit is still open. In New York City this sits in the Department of Buildings records under the address, along with any Environmental Control Board violations, and it is free to search. In the New Jersey towns it sits with the township building department.
An open permit means the municipality believes work is unfinished. Closing it can require getting the original contractor back — who may be gone, retired, or unlicensed now — or hiring an expediter, or in bad cases redoing work to current code. Timeline is weeks to many months, and it is frequently the seller's obligation to clear, which means it is your delay.
Search the address the day you get serious. Before the inspection, before the attorney bills hours.
Liens you cannot see
- Unpaid water and sewer charges, which in many municipalities become a lien on the property automatically.
- Emergency repair charges — where the city did work on the building and billed it to the property.
- A mechanic's lien from a contractor who was never paid, sometimes years ago and sometimes over a small amount.
- Tax liens, which in some places are sold to private investors and accrue at rates that make a small original balance large.
- Judgments against the seller personally that attach to property they own.
- An old mortgage that was paid off but never formally discharged in the records. Common, fixable, and slow.
Title problems in family transfers
This one is common in our communities specifically, because houses stay in families. A house passes from a parent to children informally, or a deed was signed years ago without an attorney, or one sibling has been living in and maintaining the house while title still lists four names, one of whom has since passed away.
None of it is anybody's fault, and all of it has to be untangled before a title company will insure. If an estate was never probated, that process alone can take months. If a signature is needed from a relative who is abroad or estranged, the deal waits on that relative.
The question to ask early, politely and plainly: whose names are on the deed today, and are all of them available to sign? Ask before contract, not after.
The survey
A survey shows where the property lines actually are. What it turns up: a fence three feet onto the neighbor's land, a driveway that is partly shared without a recorded easement, a deck or extension built past a setback line, a shed on the property line.
Most of these are resolvable, often through title insurance or an agreement with the neighbor, but each one adds time and some add cost. In the suburban markets a survey is standard. In Brooklyn it is sometimes skipped, and skipping it is where the extension-over-the-line surprises come from.
The appraisal coming in low
The lender's appraiser values the house below the contract price. Now the loan is based on the lower number, and the gap has to come from your pocket, from the seller lowering the price, or from the deal ending.
This is more common in markets where a lot of trading happens off the public record, because the appraiser is working from recorded sales and may not see the private ones. It is also more common when the house has something unusual about it — an unpermitted unit, a very large renovation, a lot size that does not match the block.
You cannot control the appraisal, but you can predict it. Look at what has actually recorded nearby recently, at similar size and condition, and know before you sign whether your price is above that range and why. If it is above and you have a good reason, have that reason documented for the appraiser.
The week-one checklist
- Pull the building department record for the address: certificate of occupancy, permit history, open permits, violations.
- Ask the seller in writing who is on the deed and whether all of them can sign.
- Ask for the last twelve months of utility bills and the current tax bill.
- If there is a rental unit, ask for the lease and the certificate of occupancy that covers it.
- Ask whether a survey exists, and how old it is.
- Get your own attorney engaged before you sign anything, not after.
A word on who works for whom
Your attorney works for you. The title company works for the lender and for itself. The inspector works for whoever pays them. The seller's agent, if there is one, works for the seller. None of that is sinister — it is just worth knowing whose interests are represented when you are told something is fine.
This article is general information about how deals go wrong, not legal advice, and every municipality handles these records differently. Your own attorney, licensed where the house is, is the person who tells you what applies to your deal.