Posted by Scot - SoCal on June 25, 2001 at 13:19:05:
Question: Finding Owners. Answer - Posted by Ronald * Starr
Posted by Ronald * Starr on June 25, 2001 at 01:22:28:
I got this e-mail question and will answer it so all can share, seeing no privacy issues involved
--------E-MAIL--------*-
Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 17:30:49 -0700
From: Joseph Copeland | Block Address | Add to Address Book
To: tigerinpa@yahoo.com
Subject: finding owners
I have a question how did you go about finding the owners is there a
list on the
net, or just through the public records office. Just beginning trying
to
find my way
i have located the property I am ready to take on the next step.
-------RESPONSE---------–--*
Joseph Copeland ----------------------
I’m not sure to what post this is a response, so I will try to answer in general.
If you have just one or a very few properties, call your local appraisal or assessor’s office and ask for the information that you want. Also ask them if they are on the internet with property records. Many counties are these days, but nowhere near all.
If you have more properties to research and they don’t have internet access, go to their office in person and learn how things work there. You should be able to transfer much of this learning to other counties when you go to them.
Here in CA, and in other western states, one can often get a lot of information from customer service at the title insurance companies. For instance, if I wanted to solict single family property owners in one town who had owned the properties over 6 years, I could probably get that downloaded onto a 3 1/2" floppy disc in ASCII comma delimited format. This could be read by any database program and by mailing programs.
If you are a very serious investor, there are on-line and CD-ROM services available to get access to property tax records anytime. The two biggest are First American Real Estate Solutions in Southern CA (ask 800 info for phone number) and DataQuik, also known as Acxiom. Check the internet for these services. You might find some local service also avaiable. I have a CR-ROM with all the assessed properties in Sacramento County, CA, right here in my computer now. I can do as many down-loads as I want. And check out comparables. However, it is getting a little out of date now. If I want up-to-date comparables, I can tap into FARES computer and download them. Not only for all counties in CA, but for many different counties in different states across the union.
Good Investing and Good Owner-TrackingRon Starr
Re: Question: Finding Owners. Answer - Posted by Scott
Posted by Scott on June 25, 2001 at 17:36:57:
Hello. I see the website for Acxiom, http://www.acxiom.com/, but I don’t see product or service that provides CDs with lists. Do you know what it is called?
Also, I found a similiar product called Property Pro CD from DataQuick Information Systems… Property Solutions | CoreLogic®
Is anyone familiar with this one?
Thank you,
Scott
Re: Question: Finding Owners. Answer - Posted by Eric P. Martin
Posted by Eric P. Martin on June 25, 2001 at 14:09:16:
Hey Ron, during my lunch hour, I went down to the Assessor’s office to look up the owner of a property. However, they only have the address of property listed. I looked his name up in the white pages, no luck. I also tried calling the collection agency… They couldn’t release any info on the client. Where should I go from here?
Eric
What does that CD-ROM cost? (nt) - Posted by Scot - SoCal
Posted by Scot - SoCal on June 25, 2001 at 09:53:41:
Re: Question: Finding Owners. Answer - Posted by Tom
Posted by Tom on June 25, 2001 at 01:44:06:
The sole exception to this answer is the state of Indiana, which refuses to come out of the dark ages and allow computer access to property records.
Re: Question: Finding Owners. Answer - Posted by Ronald * Starr
Posted by Ronald * Starr on June 26, 2001 at 13:33:20:
Scott--------
I thought these were the same company. They have a dial-in service with a monthly fee. I don’t know if they have CD-ROMs. Ask for a sales person.
Good Investing and Good Information GatheringRon Starr******
Re: Question: Finding Owners. Answer - Posted by Ronald * Starr
Posted by Ronald * Starr on June 26, 2001 at 11:52:17:
Scott--------
I thought these were the same company. They have a dial-in service with a monthly fee. I don’t know if they have CD-ROMs. Ask for a sales person.
Good Investing and Good Information GatheringRon Starr******
Re: Question: Finding Owners. Answer - Posted by Ronald * Starr
Posted by Ronald * Starr on June 25, 2001 at 16:35:49:
Eric P. Martin-----
Aren’t you the ambitious one, working on your lunch hour? That puts a couple of pluses on the scale which is balancing out whether you will be a successful real estate investor or not. Good Going Guy.
Gee, there are so many different things to do, I don’t even want to write this one up again. I posted an answer to a question like this about 2 or 3 months ago. The questioner was in Austin, TX. Maybe you can find that post on the archive.
I am surprised that you got no other address for the person. Did they say that the subject property is also the address for mailing tax bills? Then they probably don’t have any more information. If they did not say that, then try to find out the tax-bill mailing address.
Oh, ok, here are a couple of high-probability helps: owns other properties in his name? Find in Assessor’s office. Check the Recorder/Clerk/Land Records office for any documents related to him. You might get another address, you might find a relative, you might find other contacts, you might find a social security number which can be run through to find him. Also good are talking to the neighbors, checking the probate records, checking the court records for law-suits. Call people with the same last name if it is not very common.
Good Investing and Good InvestigatingRon Starr******
Re: What does that CD-ROM cost? (nt) - Posted by Ronald * Starr
Posted by Ronald * Starr on June 25, 2001 at 12:17:58:
Scott–SoCal--------
First disk is $200 plus sales tax, subsequent ones are $160 + s.t. Los Angeles county takes three disks. Most other couties take one. You can get information from the following.
Phone number for CD DATA: 619 + 265 - 2586
Good Investing and Good ResearchingRon Starr****