How to search eviction records for Wake County?

Question

I'm trying to find background info on prospective tenant before showing them a property.

It is possible to see if an eviction has begun in public records online? If so, where do I find that info online?

I've been scouring Google for an hour now and searching deep within Wake County gov website... Nothing yet...

Chris Martin · Answer

Account Closed The information for Wake county evictions (via small claims) is available for free to the public. With the same system, you can also search for judgements and money owed cases. There are terminals, at least the last time I was at the Wake county courthouse a few years ago, at the OLD COURTHOUSE building where (again last time I was there) small claims court is/was held. The terminals are 3270 type terminals, so for those born after about 1990 you may need to spend some time with the help menu or (better) have a clerk help you navigate through the F3 and F10 keys. The system is not on-line like Books! or property cards are, and it is not exactly user friendly. The data there is accurate and when you see differences between the system there and some of the national screening services that don't get the data right, it's generally because they go by filings and/or third party (e.g. credit report records) not results of cases. Dismissed cases come to mind.

Personally, regarding your statement "I'm trying to find background info on prospective tenant before showing them a property", I'd have the prospect "self screen" with a well prepared, written process. At least when I was renting property as interim leasing manager for my company that's what I did. All automated via an online script and secured via SSL. I don't know you or your goals, but depending on what your screening goals are, that will (should) define what your screening methods will entail.

You can find a ton of information about a person from some on-line services, like doing a North Carolina Department Of Public Safety Offender Public Information search using just a name and birthdate.

Again, personally, I don't want to deal with people where NCDOC identifies as "Primary Crime: HABITUAL FELON (PRINCIPAL)" as in a 29 year old with 8 pages of criminal history with "total Incarceration Term: 15 YEARS 3 MONTHS 15 DAYS" … think about that for a few seconds...  But that's me. Ditto with awdwikisi. I know there are people out there who will tag me as prejudicial and so be it. I tell them: 'Walk a mile in my shoes and you will have no questions.' Unfortunately 90% of them don't get it.

Have you considered outsourcing this to a third party screening service? In my world, I'd make the tenant self screen and email me the results... but I don't manage property anymore so I should probably shut up.

Chris Martin · Answer

Yes, I believe this system is utilized by screening services like Speedy Filer, NTN, and others. I do not know if an unlicensed (person not identified by NC Bar) individual can access the system or not, but I do know you will need to be bonded and pay for access (~$495) plus per-query fees. See also the usage agreement to see if an individual can use it....

Clay Smith · Answer

Can you get the info for NC civil fines (evictions) here?

https://www.nccourts.gov/servi...

Jiri B. · Answer

Account Closed I think you are going the wrong way about this.

I would recommend making your rental requirements very clear to all prospective tenants and make sure they understand those before looking at the property. Also make clear there is a fee for the application.

If you specify you do not accept any tenants with previous evictions and you charge application fee I don't think you would get many with evictions. Then ask those questions on the application and do a national eviction report together with other screenings to validate everything that the potential tenant declared on the application.

I make my requirements very clear and if I do get potential tenant that does not qualify, they always ask me about that during scheduling the viewing. No one wants to waste time and money.

There will always be some that will lie on the applications but you catch those with the screening after they give you their information.

I don't think those reports are free or just available for public on the county website. You need to find a screening service that covers all those reports.

Hope this helps.

Account Closed · Answer

@Chris Martin  And, yes, I'm going to let a 3rd party screening service do most of the tenant research for me (Tenant Magic).

Account Closed · Answer

@Chris Martin, thanks!

Interesting stuff!

In the "auto-responder" emails that the prospect has received so far, "no evictions" were in red bold in the email footer...

I'd have waited until prospect started the official screening process (after app fee was paid) to see what turned up. But I was particularly not in the mood to leave my house this weekend and prospect was sending up signals that he may have been hiding something...

Improving that pre-screening process is something I'm interested in. Out of the 50-ish inquiries I've received so far, I haven't had one solid prospect... Not one person has moved forward with scheduling a showing... Either my auto-emails are filtering out non-qualifiers or there's something else in my email that's turning prospects off altogether. I've heard that out of 50 online inquiries you receive, you might get 2 qualifiers that are serious about seeing your space... Maybe I'm on the right track...

Thanks so much for that info on NC court records. Now that I know I have to make an in-person visit to look up small claims, I'll just let the screening company do their thing when the time comes.

Though, I'm a little tempted to go in and play around with that 3270 terminal. I was born early 80s and have some comfort with green screen computers...

Well, if my the screening agency ever delays the research process for any reason in the future, I know where to go for some of the tenant research.

Thanks!!!

Chris Martin · Answer

You will want a compilation of Special Proceedings filings, not the same system as the judicial filing for evictions and money owed cases. @Dan Gabrielli runs the best service I know of, having used it for many years, at ePreForeclosures.com.  Note that I am not currently a customer since I am doing things other than real estate at the moment (oh horrors!)

Matt Sinn · Answer

Chris & Clay - Thanks for the great information. I think Clay and I are looking for same thing: list of newly filed evictions with contact information for the filer. I looked at links in Chris' post and reached out to SpeedyFiler.

Has anyone found a service provider that uses the RPO/NC courts online access (https://www.nccourts.gov/services/remote-public-access-program/rpa-online-access) and sells eviction filing lists to individuals/investors?

How to search eviction records for Wake County?

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