Posted by John Behle on June 16, 2000 at 20:42:04:
As was mentioned, the County Recorder’s office has all the recorded information about a property. Usually there isn’t a charge in the US and sometimes they are online over the internet. Some are free and some charge by the minute or page.
Usually the Mortgage note or Trust deed note is not recorded, yet many of the terms can be found in the Trust Deed or Mortgage - that are recorded. You may not be able to find out about assumption terms and policies unless you see the actual note.
You can find out who the lender was and when the loan was made and call them to ask, but that may not be a sure thing. I wouldn’t mention the exact loan, borrower or property so you don’t end up tipping them off about the pending sale.
I’ve just finished reading CS and I tried calling on couple of adds. One of them seems to be interesting. He is selling house for $92 and he wants 10% and he would be willing to finanace at 11%. I tried to find out about his mortgage and if the loan was assumable but he said he did not know. So, is there a web site or something where I can get all the info without having to ask seller about it. Maybe this sounds stupid but i am newbie and I am trying to learn and since I came to US 3 years ago not all terms in CS are clear to me. Any help would be appreciated. I live in Allen TX.
I have yet to meet a mortgage (Trust Deed) that was not assumable w/ “QUALIYING”. I have meet some assumable “WITHOUT QUALIFYING”, too. Which ones are you refering to?
Here in CA you can go down to your title company and have them pull a “property profile” which list every open deeds of trust, liens, judgments… anything that maybe attached to the property. Cost - “FREE” in hopes you’ll open escrow with them. Encluded is copies of the filed documents, so you can read for yourself. It is NOT a True Title Search and is NOT guaranteed, but does give you a very good idea (most of the time it is accurate, though).
I would never make an offer on a property unless I knew all the details about the property. You can find out all about it for a small fee, because all documents must be REGISTERED, and they are available to the public. That means anybody can look them up, including you!
Here in Canada the Registry Office is the place to look. In the US I believe the County Courthouse is where they keep these records. Call a real estate agent and ask. You have to go to the Court House and pay a fee to look at the records. The fee here is $5 for each property, for that sum you can look up all the deeds mortgages leases easments surveys etc. etc. all the way back for 100 years or more!
Don’t be scared, ask the clerk for help if you need to. Try to go when they are not too busy. For some reason most deals close on the first of the month, that is when they are busiest. Any other time they should have time to help out. Soon you will know how to look up things without help. For only $5 bucks it is fantastic. You can find details of zoning etc. even the RE agent doesn’t know. They always take the vendor’s word anyway and vendors are notorious liars. Also they don’t know what they are talking about half the time.
You can also get info for free from the tax office. Also other public officials like the Building Inspector,and the Fire Marshal can tell you if there are outstanding work orders on the property etc.
It is fantastic what you can find out by asking a few questions. And it does not hurt to establish a friendly relationship with building inspectors etc. I mean to let them know you are a reasonable person who wishes to always obey the law, and not pull a fast one.