I would recommend working with an investor friendly agent that won't charge the typical retail rate.

Is the courthouse the the only solution, or are the records readily available online?

Hows it the biggest change to the industry in a century...when literally 25 years ago the MLS was not on the internet, and thus commissions not easily discernible from going to an online MLS.Literally we are just going back to something that existed in the industry not that long ago.

In some counties their online website will show the loan amount and date on the Deed of Trust.

I constantly hear people online (Social media) talking about getting an FHA loan and house hacking a 1-4 Unit property.

A very few online.#2. 

WArning:  You are asking legal questions in a forum online. 

This doesn’t occur often, but the deal is so good, just a few of these in the course of your real estate investing career will turbo charge your pathway to large net worth.Since examples can provide clarity, I’ll provide two examplesA number of years ago (7 years) I was approached about purchasing a note from a property owner who sold his retail center and carried back a $500k note, current principal $476,000.  

Check out other online guides available here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides3.

You may be able to go through online court cases to see what names popup over and over again.