How to access county records

[beautifulhills]

Appraiser in training here. I am helping with an assignment. What do you do when County records are not online, as such? Is there a vendor we can go to that actual deeds, transfers, deed of trust papers can be viewed? The County in question - Marin County, CA only has summary information - parties, and tax amount. Probably the sale amount can be reverse calculated from the tax amount in most cases. Each document must be purchased for $8 (and you don't really know which ones you really need before seeing them)

 

[George Hatch]

I subscribe to ParcelQuest, which provides me with the public records feed for every county in California ($155/mo for the subscription). This is what one of their property profile printouts looks like: I've redacted most of the particulars, but all those fields are populated. They also show the sales/transaction history, as well as providing assessor maps.

ParcelQuest Appraise

www.parcelquestappraise.com

 

[beautifulhills]

I subscribe to ParcelQuest, which provides me with the public records feed for every county in California ($155/mo for the subscription). This is what one of their property profile printouts looks like: I've redacted most of the particulars, but all those fields are populated. They also show the sales/transaction history, as well as providing assessor maps.

ParcelQuest Appraise

www.parcelquestappraise.com

View attachment 63916

Very useful. Thanks for taking the time to show an actual record. Perhaps you do appraisals in Marin County (the property shown is in Marin) - do you then sometimes purchase the actual deed/transfer/deed of trust for further analysis? I can calculate the sale price from the transfer tax amount (also considering any City taxes) The sheet lists 'prior document type' - I m assuming that the actual document is NOT available on Parcelquest, or, only for an additional fee?

 

[George Hatch]

I'm in San Diego county. I only pulled a Marin County record because you referenced Marin County. The record shown shows the recorded sale price and the property tax and all the addresses and names involved. The sales history looks like this (I've only grabbed the left portion of the screen:



But in answer to your question I rarely go into the individual documents. With this much info there is seldom any need.

 

[Dublin ohio]

I just looked at the Marin county website. They appear to have access to numerous records. There was a recoded document search function and various property search functions

Home

This is the official home page of Marin County, California.

www.marincounty.org

 

[beautifulhills]

Yes that is correct - but each document must be purchased 'sight unseen' and one is not always sure whether it is needed before reading it

 

[beautifulhills]

I'm in San Diego county. I only pulled a Marin County record because you referenced Marin County. The record shown shows the recorded sale price and the property tax and all the addresses and names involved. The sales history looks like this (I've only grabbed the left portion of the screen:

View attachment 63920

But in answer to your question I rarely go into the individual documents. With this much info there is seldom any need.

But you CAN go to each record, to the actual document, if you choose, on Parcelquest. I understand that you don't often or very rarely do it, but is it possible if one wants to? Is there a document fee to do so? Is it immediate or you have to wait?

 

[George Hatch]

All they show are the doc numbers, transaction and financing amounts and the names. They don't provide direct access to the actual documents. But what they do provide is sufficient info that you generally don't need to go to the actual documents. Depending on assignment type, that is.

 

[beautifulhills]

Appraiser in training here. I am helping with an assignment. What do you do when County records are not online, as such? Is there a vendor we can go to that actual deeds, transfers, deed of trust papers can be viewed? The County in question - Marin County, CA only has summary information - parties, and tax amount. Probably the sale amount can be reverse calculated from the tax amount in most cases. Each document must be purchased for $8 (and you don't really know which ones you really need before seeing them)

Thanks for the info. It really is very much appreciated indeed.

 

[beautifulhills]

All they show are the doc numbers, transaction and financing amounts and the names. They don't provide direct access to the actual documents. But what they do provide is sufficient info that you generally don't need to go to the actual documents. Depending on assignment type, that is.

Thanks for the info. It really is very much appreciated indeed.