How liens and back-tax payoffs work
When you sell to us, we pay the closing costs. Your liens are paid off from the sale at closing.
A payoff is the current amount and instructions from the lender, creditor, or taxing office. The title company checks the property records and works with the parties named on them to confirm payoff and release details for the sale. The payoff is separate from closing costs and comes from the sale proceeds; mortgage balances, back taxes, and your share of current property taxes are separate too.
Start with the records you have
A current tax bill or notice, mortgage or creditor payoff statement, court paper or case number, deed, and parcel number can help identify the right account. Bring what you have—even if it is incomplete. You can call before you have every document or confirmed balance; the lender, creditor, taxing office, and title company can verify the current information as the sale moves forward.
If the payoff is the problem
Think the payoff is more than the house is worth? Ask us — we've gotten lenders to come down before.
Bring the current lender statement if you have it. The lender and title company confirm the payoff amount and instructions for the specific sale; we do not promise a reduction for a particular payoff.
What happens next
Talk through the house
Tell us the Wausau address, the condition, and what you know about the lien, tax bill, or notice. Start with what you have.
Review the written terms
Written offer and written terms before you commit; title-company closing. You can review the proposed price, payoff treatment, and other sale terms before deciding whether to proceed.
Confirm payoffs and close
If you choose to proceed, the title company reviews the records and coordinates current payoff information and closing documents with the lender, creditor, or taxing office. The final settlement figures depend on the records for your property.
Wausau and Wisconsin records to check
Wausau is in Marathon County. The county's land-records and court-records offices can point you to the record they maintain; the notice, lender, or taxing office named on a current account is the place to confirm its balance and status.
Marathon County Register of Deeds
The county land-records office is a starting point for recorded deeds and other land records connected with the property.
Marathon County Clerk of Courts
The county court and records office is a starting point for court-file and docket questions. Check a current foreclosure case or court paper against the actual court record.
Property-tax bill or notice
Contact the taxing office identified on the current bill or notice to ask about the account balance and any tax-sale notice. A property-tax account is separate from a lender's mortgage payoff or foreclosure case.
Mortgage foreclosure is a separate court process
Wisconsin mortgage foreclosure goes through court. The right to redeem can continue after the sheriff's auction until the court confirms the sale, but it requires full payment of the foreclosure judgment, interest, costs, and applicable later taxes—not just overdue installments. Have the actual judgment, payoff, and confirmation-hearing date checked promptly. Read the Wisconsin court decision.
Wisconsin real estate transfer fee
On a sale that is not exempt, Wisconsin charges the seller 30 cents for every $100 of the sale price, or part of $100—that is $300 on a $100,000 sale. The fee is collected when the deed is recorded. Some transfers are exempt, and recording and other closing charges are separate. Wisconsin transfer-fee law and Wisconsin Department of Revenue information.
When you sell to us, we pay the Wisconsin real estate transfer fee.
This named fee is separate from mortgage balances, liens, back taxes, your share of current property taxes, and other recording or closing charges.
Compare possible net proceeds
Use the Wausau calculator to compare what you may keep after costs. You can enter your own estimates for the house, mortgage payoff, liens or taxes, repairs, and other costs.
Wausau, WI Home Sale Net Proceeds Calculator
CalculatorCompare what you would keep from listing your house or selling as-is for cash. Change the repair costs, cleanout, monthly bills and closing costs to fit your house.