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House Mortgage Information

TheHulkTheHulk
edited March 2008 in Seattle Real Estate
Hi Everyone,

Long time reader, first time poster.

Been looking at houses for quite a while, mostly waiting to see how much they fall in the coming months. While going through houses with my realtor, I have noticed that the realtors have access to information like: Down payment made on a particular house, Outstanding loan amount on a house etc.

How do they get hold of this information? I know that most of the other basic information can be obtained through county tax records and such, but I thought mortgage related information would be private. I think it would be an important bit of information when figuring out how much to bargain with a seller.

Thanks in advance for any tips...

Comments

  • perfectfireperfectfire
    I noticed that they have access to this information at BMIT (Bubble Markets Inventory Tracking) and have wondered where it comes from. There are whisperings that to get it you need to sacrifice a young goat goat to some unholy god. It would explain why only realtors tend to have the data.
  • AlanAlan
    It is public information. It just isn't online. You can go down to the courthouse and look it up yourself. There are (were?) people who gather data like that for a living.
  • Rhonda PRhonda P
    Some counties may have some of the mortgage information on line via "public records". Some removed DOT (deeds of trust) when a local news station exposed that many DOT's had either social security numbers and/or WDL#'s on them for the purpose of the notary.

    The information is provided in title commitments to the real estate agents when they obtain the listing (referred to as a TBD in the title industry since the buyer is to be determined).
  • jillaynejillayne
    Little known fact: this information is available from the title insurance companies to the general public as well as to Realtors.

    Google title insurance and the name of your county to find local title insurance companies near you. Ask for their "customer service" department.

    It is possible that the person in the CS department may have to charge you a very small fee for this now, something like a few dollars.

    There are only a few massive databases now because Metroscan bought Experian and First American owns Metroscan.

    I want you all to imagine what could be done if First American bought zillow.

    I've been pondering this for about 2 years now.

    But I digress.

    Be nice to the customer service workers. Kindness will get you places.
  • laxtosnocolaxtosnoco
    Yup, I bet the agent is getting this info from title searches. There are also companies that aggregate title information and make it available for marketing purposes. So much for privacy...
  • jjljjl
    Mortgage information is available to agents though the MLS.

    Mortgage information is available to the public as well through county websites.
  • mike2mike2
    Deeds of Trust show the original mortgage balance, and from that and the purchase price one can estimate the size of the down payment. Not quite the same as knowing the outstanding balance and the actual down payment. Even if the original mortgage balance was 100% of the sale price there's a chance that the down payment was negative.
  • UbersaladUbersalad
    There is an existing website upkeep by title company that has the above information...
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