Search for Property Records

Most of the information you will need about a property you are interested in, or a home for that matter, will be given to you by your realtor.  Eva, our realtor, had all sorts of information, including in many cases, the back story on the property owners.

Your realtor will be able to tell you how long the seller has owned the property, how much the seller originally paid, and how much is owed against the property. They can find out how many days it has been on the market, if it was on previously, and then withdrawn and relisted, or if it has recently sold and is now a "flipper".

This information is very useful, and you should not consider making an offer without it.

There are times, however, you may want to get more information than your realtor has given you, and then you must do a little searching on your own. 

You can go into the town hall, to the county assessor's office.  Or there may be another office where these records are kept, for instance, the county courthouse or city hall.  There will be one place where the public can go to search for information on a property.  You can find out the owner, the tax records, the assessed worth, the size, zoning information, and find out if the seller has filed for bankruptcy.

You can also so some searching online, although many I have attempted to do for this article, ran into a "pay for information" situation.   But, here are some suggestions:

http://www.publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/

http://www.nationalpropertyrecord.org/

http://www.zillow.com/

www.freeprf.com/property.html        (this site doesn't include all 50 states)

All these facts will help you make a realistic and successful offer.

Till next time.