Public Records on Home Sales - Where to Get Them

By Gary Pearson

In today's fast paced real estate world many people want to purchase homes in alternative ways and flip them, i.e., fix them up and turn them around for a profit. So that you do not pay too much money for the property it is very important to become familiar with your county's public records on home sales.

In order to do this you have to get your background information about the property in order so you must check out your local resources on public records on home sales.

Much of the information you need is now online so you can do your homework at home in your pajamas but your County Recorder's Office is an excellent place to go and familiarize yourself with their records. They are friendly and worth their weight in gold when you need what they have.

First you can track down the recorded documents on the property through your city Assessor or your County Assessor's office. In their information they will have the "book and page" of the recorded documents on the property: the mortgage, the Declaration of Value, a Ground Hazard Information sheet and other pertinent documents. The Assessor's Office can also tell you information about the property they acquired during their assessment procedure in order to establish the amount of property taxes on the property.

All of this information will be interesting to you when you focus on a property that you want to buy: you have to know how much was paid for the property when it was last sold, who presently owns it, especially if it is a foreclosed property. If the property is presently owned by the present buyers you may be able to go to them directly to buy the property rather than through a real estate agent or bank or foreclosure company representing the lender.

Another source of public records on home sales you will want to check is your local Sheriff's office to find out whether there has been a "Sheriff's Sale" on the property, the first step in the foreclosure process, where the property is sold at a Sherriff's Auction for the amount due to the lender or more. Typically the lender will buy back the debt at this point to ensure they maintain their ownership role in the foreclosure procedure.

When the information in question becomes recorded information, it is free and available to anyone in the public realm who wishes to obtain it. Public records on home sales are by their very nature free to access by anyone, so the public can track prices on sold properties, so anyone can know what a property sold for to compare it to other possible sold properties to determine a price for a house going onto the market.

The market is driven by this information so that appraisers can determine value on pending properties about to close.

Gary Pearson is an accomplished niche website developer and author.
To learn more about home sales visit Selling Real Estate Site for current articles and discussions.
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