What to look for in public records??

Question

I am interested in wholesaling properties and notes to investors but havent had any luck finding any yet. I have my website up and advertising in quite a few places like twitter, myspace, fb and craigslist but nothing yet. I am limited on funds at the moment to start getting business cards and placing ads in the paper, once i can get my 1st deal i can invest some funds on advertising but until then i now realize if i want things to happen soon i need to get out and take action. Anyway what i was wondering is what do i look for at public records to get leads or list on properties and notes? Also who can i connect with so they can call me with leads? Monday i will start taking action but i need to know what im going there to look up, any help and advise would be very appreciated, thanks!

Vikram C. · Answer

Teri, there are tons of public records and different states reveal differing amounts of information to the general public.  So it depends on your state and your specific business.  But here are a few things that come to my mind with respect to wholesaling.

1.  Get a list of people who have purchased properties at auction.  These are always going to be cash buyers who are capable of evaluating a deal in hours and paying cash for it.  I cannot imagine a better class of people to have in your buyer's list if you are a wholesaler.

2.  Many of those buyers will be repeat buyers.  These people will typically have a business name or business entity.  Go to your state's secretary of state's website (or some similar department that regulates entities) and try to get the contact information for each entity.  You can also check the county fictitious business name records for DBA information.

3.  See if you can find the website for these businesses and try to get as much contact information as possible to complete your database of buyers.

4.  Check the county recorder's site to get an idea about the price range of properties that these buyers are buying.  If possible, have a table for each buyer with each of their properties.  The more information you have about your potential buyers before you contact them, the smarter you will sound when you decide to approach them.  If you live in a state that does not give you sales prices, you can use zillow to get an approximate idea of the types of properties they are buying.

5.  You can add to your list if you have mls access by looking for cash buyers.

If you do all this well, you will have the highest quality buyers list in your area.  Then it will be time to contact your buyers and find good deals for them.  I am yet to get a good deal from a wholesaler, so I suspect it is not an easy task.  Good luck.

Account Closed · Answer

If you are looking for motivated sellers drive your neighborhood and look for "for rent signs", look for vacancies, look for properties that are not well maintained.

When you have a list of addresses then I would check the tax parcel information to identify who the owner is, the owners address.  You may be able to do a reverse lookup and find the owners phone number.

You may run across out of state property owners or an LLC in this way as well.  It can be very useful to regularly check out your market area.  Pay attention to for sale signs as well.

I'm sure others can give you some other ideas that can help you locate properties not on the MLS.

Mike Wood · Answer

Ultimately the best option for the note business is to be involved with the creation of the note and therefore the sale of the property. If you can get in right at the beginning you can negotiate to have first dibs on the note when ready to sell.

If you opt to look for the leads in public record you need to find out if you are in a mortgage state or a trust deed state. Most of the US is trust deed. When looking for the notes in public record you will look for the deed of trust or trust deed document. Once you find that type of document you will need to look for a private party name on both sides of the deal. Then you know you have a private note that you can work with.
Most states have this data available online but there are still many counties that do not and you would have to go directly to the county courthouse to find that data. It is a lot of work but that is what running your own business is all about. Those who are willing to put more into it will get the greater results.
I hope this have been helpful

Teri M. · Answer

thanks v, never thought of building a buyers list like that! i have a pretty good buyers list but can always find more :) I wanted to research seller finance note holders and search for other ways to find sellers just dont know exact wording to look up. Also looking for bird dogs to work with nationwide. Have buyers just need to find motivated sellers! The more i read the forums the more i learn something new everyday, i love this site :)

Account Closed · Answer

Heres the thread on building a buyers list.  There are some great ideas on here.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/93/topics/23272-top-ten-ways-to-secure-a-buyers-list-?page=1

Steve brought together several useful threads as well here:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/93/topics/54108-buyer-s-list-how-to-

Rachel H. · Answer

It really depends on your focus (i.e. out of area landlords/owners, evictions, probates, etc). In my experience, I prefer to target specific areas and work from there. Hope that helps!

Account Closed · Answer

So are you looking for properties and notes to wholesale or looking for buyers to buy properties that you have found.

There is a great thread regarding building a buyers list.

Account Closed · Answer

Not sure what you are really asking.  Are you looking for probate properties, are looking a tax parcel records?

Understanding what you hope accomplish will help in addressing the question.  I'm assuming that you are trying to find out who the property owners are.  This can be useful if you have discovered properties in your market area that look run down or vacant.

Teri M. · Answer

anyone?? would greatly appreciate any tips on what to look for in public records, thanks!

What to look for in public records??

Most Popular Reply