One. Go and look up your own house.

Every county in this country has a recorder’s office, or a registry of deeds, and it is open to the public, and there is a terminal you can use without giving your name.

Type in the owner’s surname.

It takes four minutes.

Copies are two dollars a page.

Find out what instrument your house is held under, and whose name is on it, and whether there is anything else recorded against it.

Do it when nothing is wrong, so that the first time you ever do it is not a Monday in December when you have been frightened out of somewhere.