Using a Third Party Site to Look Up Property Data

[Manfred Schaefer]

I hope that I am in the right forum category for this post...

Last night I went driving for dollars to find some deals.

My wife and I where looking for properties that looked abandoned or unkept, at the very least. Properties that didn't have for sale signs out in the yard but were clearly empty.

I returned to my office to a property search using a third party data site that is suppose to have all the information for that property available for a small fee.

Well, I thought I would save a lot of time to use them, than to spend time trying to navigate the county site. Boy, was I wrong....

I entered the property address expecting that I would receive a report on that property. It was only $1 for the report, for a first time user. I received a "report ready" notice after the site took 5 minutes to generate database information. So, thinking that I have a report to view, I paid the $1.00 fee. After entering all MY information at check out, it asked if I wanted to add reports like, Home owners name, land value, sale price history, etc.

Isn't that what I was suppose to receive for the $1 report in the first place? I went and added the home owners name to the report for an additional .25 cents, not bad but should be included. I went through the checkout and declined the premium $20 monthly membership for 25 reports per month. Not bad, I thought, if this report is good. I would sign up for that.

OK, so I get to the final checkout screen where my card was charged and my report should be ready for down load..... Not so much! My screen says that my address was not in their database. Now , remember, It said that my report was ready before I even entered my payment data. They did let me run an additional report for another address since that one was not available. I did just that. Low and behold, that address was also not in their database.

Customer service was very nice and friendly. Without delay, I was refunded for my payment.

Now, I am off to the county records website and just get it done for myself. I just wanted to share my first experience with such a service with you.

Manfred Schaefer