I have used their services, and they provide info based on recorded deeds. In Southern California area title companies used them quite a bit.
Call them up and see if they provide service to the area you are interested in working. If they do, don’t just blindly sign up with them right away. If you’re a member of a real estate investment club there’s a good chance you can find a way to get a discounted rate. Check on that first, as the discounts can sometimes be substantial ($75 vs. $200 for same service as an example).
Also, your local investor club should be able to guide you to other services as well.
There are several different ways to get the data you require from them, each with a unique access method and pricing structure. For instance, if everything you want is located in one county, there’s a CD service that you can subscribe to that is “all you can eat” for a flat monthly fee. There’s also an online version, which allows you to access more than one county at a cost per record downloaded. You can control the number of records downloaded so that you don’t break your budget, and their system will show you how many records are available and let you only download the number you need. A combination of the two methods might just work out better for you depending on where you are, what you need, and your ultimate goals and usage plans.
Does anyone know how to get access to MLS or some other online system
that will do comparibles (state of Michigan)?
I understand this is not availible to the general public (though it should), but
is there a way to get comparibles besides using the MLS. I don’t mind even
paying a monthly fee if the comparibles I get are based from the MLS system.
Anyone have any ideas? I would appreciate your help. Thanks, and have a
fantastic week!
Why do you insist on comps based on the MLS system? The MLS comps only includes sales facilitated by their subscribers. No FSBO’s, no tax sales, no sheriff sales, no quit claims. Why not use a service that gives you ALL recorded deeds, regardless of source? You local REI club should have several companies hawking discounts for members.
Well the reason I wanted based on MLS, was because I didn’t realize
what you explained. Thank you for the advice, greatly appreciated. Do
you have any thoughts of other services that would provide this “ALL”
sales info? I have lost faith in the county info, because it was not
accurate, which my next question is, how do you verify the accuracy of
such posted data? Thank you again!
That could be a stickler. Most services get their data from the recorded deeds. If the county data is not right, then anything based on that data would necessarily be flawed as well. What kind of problems did you find with the county data?
I would still steer you toward your local investor club meeting. It’s not possible to tell from halfway across the country what the best service in your area is. If you mingle at the meetings, they will tell you which is good and which to stay away from.
We have 5 or 6 services here and they always have a rep at the meetings hawking their services, and they usually toss a discount to members.
Thank you Tom, greatly appreciated. I have called quite a few investor
clubs, and will try to hook up with a few of them, great suggestion, and
thank you!
As for innacurate data, I should probably caveot that statement with,
maybe I just don’t understand their hidden codes, messages. Most of
the numbers they state (sq. ft, bedrooms, baths, etc) don’t match with
what the house actually shows. Granted things could change over the
years, but usually I would think that someone would be responsible for
ensuring the accuracy. Maybe I am wrong. Any factual input from
people would be greatly appreciated.
Re: How to get access to MLS - Posted by Niklaus Worth
Posted by Niklaus Worth on August 18, 2005 at 12:59:23:
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We get the same missing, incomplete, and inaccurate data here as well. Just learn to work around it. Much of the data comes from the developer, so we see entire subdivisions with 0 bedrooms and 0 baths.
If you work in a “farm” area you get to know all the houses, especially with tract housing. You do your comps and from experience you know that the 1887sf houses are the ones with 4/2 and 2 car garage. You may also know that they all are really 1873sf but it doesn’t really matter because it’s still apples to apples.
The problem arises in “hodge podge” neighborhoods which abound here. You can’t comp anything even if all the data is accurate. You really have to drive over there and look. There are some areas here where the original owners just bought a lot and hired a contractor to build on specification. So you can have the Taj Mahal standing next to a shack.
That’s why I love tract housing. 700 houses in a subdivision and only 4 floor plans.
The other thing is that as you grow accustomed to the houses in your area, you just know them. Say if I’m working an area of one or two zip codes. Now an owner calls and wants to deal. He gives me the address which I plug into my service. The first thing I look at is the legal. Here we use township, range, section and subdivision. So if that legal starts out saying “Crestview 3rd addition”, that tells me exactly what kind of houses are there. Then I look at the square footage and I now know which model I’m dealing with.
You only can do that though after researching dozens of houses in the same area. Patterns will emerge.
The only thing that is critical to be accurate is the sale dates and prices and deed types.