Property Title Searches in California (CA)

With nearly 40 million residents, California is the country’s most populous state and the third largest by area. The economy of the Golden State is the largest in the United States, and is the largest sub-national economy in the world.

What Title Services are Included in a California Title Search?

A residential or commercial title search in California will include information such as:

• Tax and assessment using the property’s parcel number
• Ownership records via title deeds
• Open deeds of trust and associated documents (including foreclosure documents, if applicable)
• Active judgments and liens that are filed in the county’s property records
• Any document filed within the scope of the search that affects the property

How Much is a Title Search in California?

PACE Loans and Assessment Liens in California

Documents called PACE, Assessment Lien, Notice of Assessment or Notice of Special Assessment can be seen almost anywhere, but they’re most common in California. The title of the document can be deceiving and make one think there is a lien on the property for delinquent assessments, but that’s usually not the case.

Typically, the assessment is collected with the property taxes, and when they are (as long as the taxes are current), there is not a lien. Here are two ways to verify if the assessment is collected through the property taxes.

1. Read the document to see if it states how the fee is collected. Here is a snippet from an Assessment Lien which states it’s collected “in the same installments as the general taxes.”
2. Look at the tax breakdown to see if a portion of the taxes are going towards the party on the Notice of Assessment. Here is a Notice of Assessment that was for Hidden Valley Lake Community Services District. You’ll notice the tax bill in the second snippet shows $92.91 being allocated to HV ASMT DIST. As long as the taxes are current, we can surmise that this is not a true lien on the property.
   

California's Trustee Sale Guarantee Explained

In California, the Trustee Sale Guarantee (TSG) supports the lender during the state's non-judicial foreclosure process. Foreclosure is initiated when the borrower fails to meet their loan obligations. The TSG contains critical information including:

• The legal description and current ownership details of the property
• Records of Mortgages or Deeds of Trust
• Existing liens and encumbrances
• Status of property taxes and any bankruptcy filings
• Contact details for parties entitled to foreclosure notices
• An approved newspaper for publishing the foreclosure notice
• The specific city or judicial district where the property is situated

Foreclosure laws and notification requirements vary from state to state.

California Counties Served

Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yolo, and Yuba.