"Attempting to influence" is subjective, you might begin talking to the appraiser by explaining you're not going there in an attempt to influence a value so much as to provide additional consideration or data or ask a question.

If you want money, get a plan, show the deal, support the deal by using other's influence or data that can be proven, not claimed.

Alexander, the free way is to figure out which newspapers publish the legal notices for probates in your area of interest and then mine that data on a regular basis.

We have one in the Denver area that covers about 10 counties, and gets the data out very quickly after its released by the counties.

Rich,If you need help digging out data, let me know

I have heard numerous times the data is outdated.

PC just keeps on goin...I've had them driven over and knocked out of the (destroyed) steel frame, with barely a scratch; even shot at from a distance- no hole, not bent, just a "star" in the paint that was easy to touch up.

Anyone know of a good source for getting foreclosure data?

The magazine studied data that also included the quality of health care, crime rates, weather and commute times in an effort to determine the 50 most fiscally sensible cities in America in which to live.

Although some of this data is certainly available in the public record, in many cases it's not all that simple to gather that data from the public record.And then of course, when there are "feuds", the parties involved might try to pull something like what Mitch posted here:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/60121-another-grant-deed-scam-If someone wants to volunteer that info, great - but I'll abstain from that.