Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Hawaii

Re: foreclosure

It is not clear from your question whether this is related to property in Hawaii or Nebraska. I am not familiar with Hawaiian laws. In Nebraska, you may purchase title insurance once you have an insurable interest in the property. Generally, this means once you have legal title (a deed) or equitable title (a contract to purchase real property). You may request an abstract of title from your title insurance company (or title abstractor service)prior to having an insurable interest to identify possible liens, clouds, or defects to legal title. It may be prudent to do this prior to bidding at auction. You may sit down with your attorney to review the abstract of title so he may identify potential problems with the purchase. Liens are not all equal. They have an assigned priority as to which liens are more senior than other liens. If the party foreclosing on title is not the most senior lien holder, you are taking title subject to all liens that are senior to forecloser's lien. You may not want an attorney who specializes in foreclosures because there are a number of other issues for you to consider. I would suggest you locate an attorney that you are comfortable with personally and authorize your attorney to associate with outside counsel that specializes in foreclosures if it becomes necessary to do so. This way you work directly with the attorney you know and trust. Many times this will work out better and may be cheaper than hiring an expert attorney. Many jurisdictions, including Nebraska, do not allow an attorney to hold themselves out as an expert on any particular area of law unless the bar association has approved the requirements for a particular designation. Nebraska does not offer a specialty designation for foreclosure attorneys.