As abpenny would say (where the heck is she anyway?):  "Wearing a lab coat and waiting with a pencil and clipboard". (or something to that effect).

I'm also interested to hear the scoop.

Search land titles to find out all charges against a property.  It will show mortgages, builders liens, caveats, writs of execution, certs of pending litigation, etc.

A lien is a charge against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt or obligation.  A mortgage is one type of a lien.  A mortgage is a lien on real property for a specified debt and/or amount.  Techinically, you can't put a mortgage on a house - the mortgage is on the real property upon which the house is affixed by the nature of its foundation.  Buildings become part of the property when they are on a foundation and cannot be easily moved from the property.  Therefore a house is part of the property, a garden shed is not. 

Mobile homes are not affixed to property; therefore when a person finances the purchase of a mobile home, the lender will take a mortgage on the property, if the person is also buying the property where the mobile home will be, and a personal property security agreement on the mobile home so that even if the mobile home is moved the lender can realize on it if the borrower defaults.  Therefore in the instances of mobile homes, search the ppsa registry as well as land titles.

Heh Punkins...is that something someone can do themselves...if you are reasonable with a computer.

I recognize that there is a reason there are professionals who do these things...but, just curious if I could at least review stuff myself..and get a gut feeling before going there.

Also, curious..is there a way to see the history of mortgages on a property, ie person mortgaged for x amount 10 years ago, then refinanced for z 2 years ago

Well, I'm not sure how Ontario's Land Registry is set up, but here in Saskatchewan it is all online.  All you have to do is set up an account with them and then you can go online and do searches etc. As far as seeing the history, on paper based titles it is easy because on the back of it is where mortgages were recorded.  On online systems it takes a bit more work.  Here in Saskatchewan any of the paper based titles in existence before conversion over to the online system can be searched, scanned in and sent to you by land titles.  Again, I'm not sure how Ontario is set up.  But I imagine you should be able to find what you are looking for.