Is MLS needed to find cash buyers?

[David White]

I want to know if I need access to the MLS in order to find out who brought houses with cash in a specific area. What I'm currently doing is looking on Zillow to find houses being sold close to the ARV of the house I'm wholesaling. Then I'm looking on my states assessments and taxation website to see who purchased the house. The problem I'm running into is the website just states how much the property was brought for. I was told a realtor could get the info for me. Is this true? Also is there another way to find out the cash buyers?