Way to verify a property owner

[KooLaid]

Is there a way to verify the name of a legal property owner in the bay area?

I'm looking at some of these places and I really do NOT want to be scammed out of thousands of dollars.

The only reassurance I have so far is to show up in advance before the appointment time and watch them use a key to get in. Thats really about it....

Other than that, hope the property has a HOA then call the HOA to match the name. Which I haven't done yet.....

 

[KooLaid]

Reason being, this saturday, I am viewing:

2- homes in the hills of Pt. Richmond
1- Condo in at Richmond Marina
1- Condo in S. SF
1- Condo at Pacifica Pier
1- Condo in Daly City on San Bruno Mtn.

And then I plan to pick one and sign a lease late that afternoon or evening. I'm out of time. I gotta pick a place.

 

[docjohn]

every town /city ect has a tax collecters office/ office of deeds ect that lists all deed holders and who pays taxes on said property.

 

[YellowHaze]

What the "doctor" said. Property taxes are public records and can be viewed at the local city hall.

 

[queenlives]

What the "doctor" said. Property taxes are public records and can be viewed at the local city hall.

and perhaps online, no?

 

[YellowHaze]

and perhaps online, no?

Hmmm... interesting question. I am showing my age (arg!) since the last time I did that was before the internet was a household thing. I would suggest calling city hall and asking about any web access for those or other home owner records. Good suggestion.

 

[queenlives]

Hmmm... interesting question. I am showing my age (arg!) since the last time I did that was before the internet was a household thing. I would suggest calling city hall and asking about any web access for those or other home owner records. Good suggestion.

after reading / replying to david's thread, i emailed our RE guy and will post his response here.

in the meantime, here's a commercial service you can sign up for that (apparently) provides the info. (sorry i haven't gone through the site thoroughly).

 

[KooLaid]

I found the assessor online but they do not post the owner's name. Just value assessed, purchase price, sale price, etc.

BTW Hal, the link is gone.

http://www.smcare.org/

Well, I DO get an owner's address. Now how exactly would I go about asking the person showing me the property to tell me their address? I mean, if they're legit, they're as worried about being scammed as I am.

How would you go about asking them?

 

[queenlives]

I found the assessor online but they do not post the owner's name. Just value assessed, purchase price, sale price, etc.

BTW Hal, the link is gone.

http://www.smcare.org/

Well, I DO get an owner's address. Now how exactly would I go about asking the person showing me the property to tell me their address? I mean, if they're legit, they're as worried about being scammed as I am.

How would you go about asking them?

sorry about the link, looks like a loose nut on the keyboard

my RE guy responded that our county (but didn't know about san mateo / sf) doesn't provide owner info online except to paid services (such as he has access to).

i've used https://www.intelius.com/property-check.html for research in the past - perhaps it would work well for you. it looks like each check is ~$5, so not such a big deal.

armed with the info from intelius, i would simply confirm that they're the legal owner / registered representative (with documentation from the owner) for the property.

having said all this, i would also ask the prime community (many landlords here, i believe - steveny comes to mind) how they would handle it.