Style / Built
1870 Old Style
Straight from the Massachusetts statewide assessor layer (MassGIS) — no guesswork, no login.
Source: MassGIS Property Tax Parcels (layer 0), refreshed ~2×/year. Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds holds the recorded instruments. Owner name intentionally omitted in this demo.
A home doesn’t automatically become yours to sell the day you inherit it. Title currently sits with the decedent’s estate until the court appoints a Personal Representative (PR) who holds the authority to sign a deed.
This is the most valuable read — and we’ll be honest about what we can and can’t see. Some claims are visible in the Registry of Deeds; the scariest ones only surface from your own documents or a title company’s rundown. Treat this as a checklist to clear, not a clearance.
| Potential claim | Where it lives | DeedRead sees it? |
|---|---|---|
| Outstanding mortgage / HELOC | Registry of Deeds | ⚠ Partial |
| Reverse mortgage — the lien is recorded; the live payoff balance is what’s hidden | Registry of Deeds | ⚠ Partial |
| Declaration of Homestead (c.188) — changes at death/sale (can continue for spouse/minor children), affects process | Registry of Deeds | ⚠ Partial |
| Unpaid property tax / water / sewer | City Collector (MLC) | ✓ via MLC |
| MassHealth (Medicaid) estate recovery — if LTC benefits after age 55 | State claim / lien | ✎ No |
| Contractor / mechanic’s liens, court judgments | Registry / courts | ✎ No |
For a single-family home, the certificate you need is the municipal lien certificate (MLC) under M.G.L. c.60 §23 from the City of Salem Collector/Treasurer — it certifies unpaid taxes, water/sewer, and betterments, and title can’t pass clean without it. verify Order it at offer acceptance, not closing week. (Note: this is not the condo “6D resale certificate” under c.183A — that one’s for condominiums. For this single-family it’s the c.60 §23 MLC.)
An estate conveys via a PR (fiduciary) deed with limited covenants — not a full warranty deed. Buyers’ attorneys expect it; heirs are often surprised by it. The PR can typically sell under authority in the will or by statute verify without a separate “license to sell,” unless authority is unclear or contested.
Massachusetts charges a deeds excise of ~$4.56 per $1,000 of sale price verify by county — roughly ~$2,370 on an illustrative $520K market sale, paid by the seller/estate. (The $520K is an illustrative market/list figure from the comp range — not the $448K assessed value; in MA, assessments typically lag market.)
The recorded picture is clean enough to read, but two things stand between you and a closing: a Personal Representative has to be appointed, and the lien sweep has to be run (including the items we can’t see). Both are legal work.
That’s where DeedRead hands you off — with the parcel and these findings already loaded.