Posted by John Behle on October 22, 1998 at 15:43:25:
The abstract can be done by computer, but you need to either tie into their system or sometimes they have it on CDs. It can be quite costly. Many of the title companies are tied in. If you have a good relationship with them, they sometimes will let you use their “title plant” where you can use their computers and mirofiche. They may be able to do it for you fairly cheaply. They offer P.R.'s or property profiles for investors and agents. Sometimes for free. They are used to doing P.R.'s and Title Insurance and may literally may not even do “abstracts” any more. We needed one recently for a legal matter and could not even find a title company in our city that could still do one.
One student of mine found a wonderful employee at the County Recorder’s office that would check titles for him for $10 on her lunch hour.
The bankruptcy court system is open to the public. You can do it direct through their system or through internet sites like www.knowx.com. Usually the courts and recorder’s are near each other so, it is just a one stop thing.
The court computers are open to the public at the buildings, but they are only accessible remotely through a service called “Pacer”. You have to sign up for and pay by the minute for Pacer.
At first I used to do the title searches myself, but finally hired an employee away from a credit union that did all of their “due diligence” on loans. He could do my comps on appraisals take pictures of the properties and check the titles without me having to do massive training.