Their records are subject to review by the government, real estate commissions, courts, law enforcement, local realtor board ethics committees.   

And there are 4 PG&E meters - 1 for each unit plus 1 for the common areas.Alameda County assessor website lists the 'use code' for the property as 2600 which is "3 units, lesser quality than 2300 or unknown legal"I had stopped by city hall right before the shutdown and after a quick initial search, they mentioned the property is listed as a duplex in their records.

Unless you have a strong track record and existing relationship, I'd look to other options.

Also called an AITD or All Inclusive Trust Deed; the buyer is using the "wrap" loan to make payments to the seller, who in turn continues paying on his original loan while deeding the property to the buyer; the original lender must agree to waive the "due on sale" provision in the original loan; can be an alternative when seller financing won't work because of the seller's loan on the property; original lender may grant permission for a "wrap" to be created; the buyer may qualify to assume the original loan; getting permission to "wrap" from lenders is not easy; there is a temptation for buyers and sellers to create undisclosed wrap agreements; lenders may commission ongoing research of title records looking for undisclosed liens; if discovered, the original lender can foreclose on the seller and the buyer would lose everything, including their down payment.

It costs us about 8-10c per record and its good data.

For the record, I bought the two properties cash: one in 2011 (my investment/ rental property), and my main home when we sold our company in 2014.

its never done till the mortgage records.   

Remember that if you do not have ownership on the title the owner of record can come back and make things difficult for you.

I get an idea of what is on record thru county recorder website and 3rd party vendors like Black Knight or Datatree. 

You never know what you’re going to need in the future and it’s so much better to have records than to not have them.