GOD HELP THE COURT HOUSE CLERKS !!!!!!!!
I'm sure that many of you are very familiar with the fact that many court house clerks and or employees could..shall I say....spare to freashen up on their customer service skills.
I've been calling the three county courthouses that I do business in ALL WEEK LONG, and I have been tossed around from department to department to department with absolutely NO results!!!
Now, maybe I'm asking the wrong questions.
Can I, or Can I not go to the courthouse and request Lis Pendens listings in that county??? Is that too vague of a question??
Maybe I'm going to the wrong department in the courthouse. I've called the Sherrif's Dept., The Recorder of Deeds, and the Probate Office, and NONE of them new what I was talking about.
COULD SOMEONE OUT THERE PLEASE TELL ME... WHAT DEPT. IN THE COURTHOUSE I NEED TO GO TO GET LISTINGS OF PREFORECLOSED HOMES, AND WHAT QUETIONS I SHOULD BE ASKING!!!!
I'm taking off work early today to go to the courthouse so please respond quickly!!!
Thanks
Chris1220 [ Edited by chris1220 on Date 01/30/2004 ]
I don't think the county courthouse will provide an actual listing of properties that had a Lis Pendens filed. Luckily my county provides the information filed at the courthouse online. So I do a search by document type and make my own listing of foreclosure properties. I had the same issue with my county when I tried getting it for the first time. Most of the clerks really do not know how the foreclosure process works and simply don't know what you are asking....that's why they send you in circles. I would go to the courthouse and ask if they have a website where you can access information online about files recorded with the county. Or do a search online for your county courthouse's website. My county recorder's website or comptroller website provides the information. I hope this brought a little insight to your situation. Good luck.
Tanya
Chris, I would be happy if my county did not have such easy access to the LP and there were not sites that sold you the information with mailing address in an easy download format. Anything that is hard to get means you have less competition. How many people do you think would actually be chasing foreclosures if they had to get down to the court house.
Also, do not blame the clerks. They are over worked and under paid. When I go to the courthouse I am embarressed at the behavior of the investors that are looking through the records.
I took a day off in December to go to the court house for evictions and probate to learn if and how it could be done. Took someone with me that now I pay $40 every other week to get the information.
Brenda
You do have an advantage-once you learn the system. Most government emplyees satisfy their job description requirements. Any thing else is as much a mystery to them as it currently is to you.
Get a legal newspaper. You will see the names of attorneys who are active in foreclosure. Call that office and ask them (a paralegal, a junior attny, etc) which department the Lis Pendens are kept. I can tell you that they're lumped in with the other filings in that department. There's no list of Lis Pendens. You have to cull them out. You can also ask one of the people from a tilte company. Lastly, you should search out a default reporting company and subscribe. It sure beats going down to the courthouse.
Let me rephrase... I by no means meant to insult or upset anyone when it came to my post topic and comments. I guess you could say that I was very frustrated and writing out of anger.
In any case I did find out where to go, and for those that don't know it's the Office of the Prothonotary. I'm leaving to go there in 45 minutes. In addition, I noticed a lot of comments about companies that run queries on such topics. I have a membership with Data Quick. Does anyone know if this service is suffient for finding LP's??? If so, let me know.
I'll write back and let everyone know how it went.
Thanks for your help!!
Chris1220
It is frustrating I know, but things at the courthouse are filed by Names not by catagory. If you worked at the courthouse ( or in a title office) you would be glad it is that way. You can get the daily list of new files then go look up all of those and sort things out yourself.
Hi Chris1220,
You are not alone in that thought that most court house clerks could spare to freshen up on their customer service skills.
I have been in many courthouses to review foreclosure data, In all different times, states, counties both small and large. The customer service in all of them (including my regular courthouse), is less than poor.
Ask lots of questions (even if they are less than helpful), and then ask some more. Once you know what you are looking for, and you make your rounds regularly, they will slightly extend their hand for you, but it doesnt happen over night!
BAMZ
Try this website, http://www.netronline.com/ It helps you find contact information for public records information nation wide. If your information is available to you online, there will be a website link. If not it will tell you the phone numbers and appropriate office to contact.
Good luck,
Jeff
I got someone at the County Recorders Office to mail me a list of lis pendens each week for $1/page. Unfortunately, the printouts do not have the addresses next to the name...so I have to go online, type in the name on the county's website, and go through a bunch of records until I find the address (of which there may be a few to choose from or none at all).
**In the past 4 months I have only received 1 or 2 phone calls, which have resulted in no purchases. I think the best source of leads are through blanket mailing to your target market.
Chris1220,
I work 3 counties and each one has the listings in different areas. 1 is on a computer system inside the courthose, 1 is in the recorder of deeds and the last one, I have to get a list of court cases for the spcified time frame and then go into the computer to pull the informationI need. The best approach I have found, is to be as nice as you can be and even if you get upset, try not to take it out on them...they don't have a clue inmost cases. Just try to explain what you want 25 different ways and hope that one of the ways you are describing what you want, they understand you and then help you find the info you are there for. I have spent as much as 20 minutes explaining what I need, because they are running around asking other people what I am asking for.
Good luck
I appreciate everyone's empathy and advice. In my last entry I wrote that I found out where to go. It was the office of the prothonotary. I don't know if this is the same office that would hold these records in other courthouses aroujnd the country, but if someone is just getting started in this area of marketing this is a good place to start when you call the courthouse.
After some further explantion of what I was looking for (And I only knew what to ask for because of the info that I received from this site) I was directed to the basement to speak with the Department of Computer and Information Services. I have to pay a fifty dollar fee to get a printout and there is a new one every month, but I will have to continue to pay 50 bucks to get. So be it. I'm sure it will more than pay for itself.
In addition to that I also called the other county corthouses that I do business in and asked for thr office of the prothonotary and they gave me all the info that I needed.
So there you have it. And he lived happily ever after!!!
thanks everyone!!!!
Chris1220
To original poster in PA:
I am a real estate broker in California. I obtain the "notices of default" or NOD directly from my title company. Some title companies offer this service for free and other companies charge because they are charged from the service company they receive the info from.
If you have done alot of service with a title company ... most likely you should get it for free. I receive my notices by fax each week.
One comment about public employees (and I was employed by a county and university for 20 years) is if they all knew what we know then they would be buying all the good deals.
Good luck.
Cheryl Lopez