Listsource equity way off

[Don Chambers]

I am ready to start a direct mail campaign and planned to mail to absentee owners with equity.  Using listsource I pulled my house, and see the the combined mortgage amounts are the original amount of my loans.  One loan has been paid down half way and the other is an equity line with a zero balance.  It shows I have 6% equity, but the reported mortgage amount is more than 3 times what I owe.  I pulled a second house that I know about and I see the same thing.  I am worried this equity number is no good.  On the upside, they should have more equity than what is reported.

Anyone has experience with this?

[Sean OToole]

@Don Chambers - how much you've paid down your loan is credit data, not public records data. Credit data is highly regulated and while possible, it's difficult to use (or sell) for marketing purposes. I'm not aware of any service that provides a credit based equity criteria, that takes true current balances into account.

You'll find this to have the biggest impact when a HELOC is involved as the balance could be anywhere between zero and the full original amount. In that case, the only safe thing to do is to assume that it is the full balance, which is what Listsource has done per your post. That said, I'm surprised they'd use the full balance on a non-HELOC. Our equity models assume that folks have made their required payments and we lower the balance accordingly. Still won't account for people who make extra payments toward principal, but in most cases it gets you closer.

Despite this, Equity is a super useful criteria. You just need to remember that public records services are AWESOME at helping you focus on the best potential targets so you can focus your energy on the most likely deals, but they aren't perfect.

Hope that helps.

Sean