On Obtaining the Pricing/Lending History for a Property

Some of my more recent posts have prompted a flood of email from people asking me how they can find out for themselves the pricing history of a property. I think sharing this "secret and arcane" (as one writer put it, LOL!) information would provide an invaluable service as anyone who is thinking of buying a house should be informed of all the relevant facts about the house before they can even hope to make a rational and wise financial decision. And lord knows most real estate agents cannot be counted on to provide this information in a completely unbiased fashion; we must do it ourselves (which begs the question regarding the utility of real estate agents).

It's been a while since I last purchased a house, but here is what I did regarding my more recent posts on this blog. Please, anyone who can add to the following please do so in the comments section.

1. If you are friends with someone who is a real estate agent, then hit them up for the relevant info. Otherwise, read on...
   
2. Some real estate agencies publish an on-line monthly listing of which properties sold and by how much along with other relevant information. For Marin, I use the "recent sales" listing published by Vision RE. Theirs is not a complete listing of everything that sold in Marin but it is better than nothing and it's free. If you are looking for property elsewhere, then you will need to do a bit of hunting/asking around on your own to determine whether such a listing exists for your area.
3. Zillow.com, despite all its faults, sometimes lists the pricing history of a property. To find the pricing history this is what you do: (A) enter the street address and city in the spaces provided and click "Go", (B) on the next page is an aerial photo showing the location of the address you entered; above it is a link labeled like "Showing 123 Somewhere St, Some City,Some State 12345"; click on that link, (C) the next page shows you more information and somewhere there is a link that reads "See more graphs & data"; click on that link, (D) on the next page (you might have to do the security validation thingy first), near the bottom, will be the pricing history (if available) and tax summary. I found that Zillow rarely had the information I wanted probably because the site is still so new; I expect it will get better as it matures.
4. The subscription access to DataQuick will allow you to get a Word document that lists the loan history (amount of loan by date, type of loan, the borrower's name, etc.) for any property.
5. For Marin, if you know the borrower's name (say, via item #4, above), you can use the borrower's name to see trust deeds, reconveyances, etc. via the Marin Assessor-Recorder's office.
6. Domania.com can also be used to get information on a property.
7. Obviously, the current asking price and recent price reductions can easily be had via the MLS, ZipRealty.com, etc.
   

I am sure that there are other resources available on-line that can be used, many of them for free. Please, if you have any other sources/methods for getting this information, please share it.