Mortgage stalking: I know how much you owe

Recommended reading: An intriguing and funny essay in today's Boston Sunday Globe about "mortgage stalking" -- searching public databases for mortgage information about a particular home-owner -- your neighbor, your boss, a famous person, whoever. 

In "Confessions of a Mortgage Stalker," Linda Keenan writes that her "moogling" addiction (that's googling plus mortgage) started when she was researching home-sellers -- to learn how motivated they might be --  and grew from there:

"I had already looked up the mortgages of every prospective seller we were facing, even for B-list houses. Then I started to wonder: How much debt does my agent have? Does she need this deal done fast? Seemed prudent to know. How about the seller's agent? It was then that I slid quickly into a "what-the-hell" phase. Let's see what my husband's boss has for a mortgage. His boss's boss. Two former co-workers. That really cute guy from freshman year. A prominent local housing economist who has been bearish on the market. (I thought there would be ironic comedy if he himself had a ginormous mortgage; there wasn't, he doesn't.)"

Comments? Thoughts? Insights? Email story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com.
Full disclosure: We worked with Linda at CNN and think she's a terrific writer.

Comments

[JK]

I hate this! Nothing is private anymore! ;-{

[Inland Empire]

Sounds like a terrific waste of time.

[Hula Girl]

Cool - Can I Google all potential suitors and see how much income they have along with their mortgage? How about divorces, # of kids (legit and illegit), medical records - I mean if he has lot's of dough, I want to know if he's close to kicking. What about his Ex- does she have a mortgage and a job, or will he be her main source of income. While I'm at it, lets check the kids report cards - don't wanna get stuck tutoring remedial math, or have any (ahem) behavioral issues. And, college savings accounts, please. I could be bankrupted by the brat's Harvard tuition. Oh Boy. The joy of invading everyone's privacy. We are all Big Brother. Pass the Valium.

[Michael Snyder]

What a shining bad example!! If this blog doesn't have you concerned for your personal privacy and your family's safety I don't know what will. "Peeping Toms" were once confined to the shadows, now somehow the internet has made creeping around behind people's backs an accepted pastime. Checking out a Contractor through the CSLB is a good idea, there's the Association of Realtors the BBB and a plethora of professional agencies in place to protect consumers. Tell me Linda, how would you feel if your classmates were running your credit just for grins & giggles?

[Martin]

I want to try this. So I need to enter the home address then "+ mortgage"
or do I need to find a site with information for California?

[bode]

I recommend http://www.propertyshark.com. There are probably others, but that's my favorite.

[myron]

Some people have a little to much time on their hands. I think Linda should seek employment a the CIA or NASA. They sure could use her help.

[Westside Story- Just call me Maria]

I don't really care about too many other people's mortgages, but I will confess to looking up the ex-husband to see if he was still in the original 1989 shack- he is and he paid it off.

We look up the complete story on any house we are interested in- it's always good to know just how hungry for a sale an owner is.

[Patrick]

Actually the ability to do this has been around much longer than Google or even the Internet; all you had to do was order a property report from a title company or a service like DataQuick. Long ago, I went to a party at a friend's very nice house but didn't want to ask what he paid for the place (because that would be rude), so instead I simply ordered the property report. Imagine how fun it was for him when I questioned the rate he was paying on his second mortgage! Ah, memories...

[jb]

OK, somebody break it out - how do I do this in Ventura county/Thousand Oaks???

[problemWithcaring]

The article was pretty hilarious: The moral quandary of excessive
"moogling" - I concur with other commenter - isn't about privacy, as all of the information she culled has never been considered "private," though not as readily available to third parties. The issue is really a personal question of ethics.

I use to work for a research company and I went through those first 4 stages she wrote about within the first 20 minutes of my first day. I quickly understood how a person with a "natural curiosity" could quickly digress into just another nosey a$$hole with no boundaries and no friends.

Fact of the matter -- you don’t WANT to know most things about people - the amount of their debt being one. You think you do, but you don't. I thought her article was a quick, cute way of getting at that point.

[And it’s not only because she resembles some of my favorite commenters on these here housing blogs.]

[dog-walker]

"I recommend http://www.propertyshark.com. There are probably others, but that's my favorite." - bode

Great recommendation! I went there to look up a multi family in Hollywood I'm interested in (http://www.propertyshark.com./mason/california/
Reports2/showsection.html?propkey=16433204) and... WOW!! TALK ABOUT INFORMATION! If all that data is accurate, it's really amazing. Imagine the hours and hours it would have taken to get all that ten years ago.

One question, if anyone knows: the Title History & Sales information lists three transfers, starting in 2003 (no previous transactions): 1st of an unknown type from an individual to a trust of the same name; 2nd a Grant Deed from the trust to an individual; 3rd a Grant Deed from the individual to a trust of the same name; all with values of $0.00. Does that mean that the current seller has a cost basis of essentially nothing?

[Minnesota Nice]

dog-walker:

Something with no prior info probably just means the records are too old to have been computerized yet (circa 1980's-1990's for most). It's probably someone who owned the property for a long time. Given that, the unknown type is probably a revocable trust with the owner also the primary beneficiary. Once in trust, the first individual probably passed away, leaving the remainder of the trust to someone else. Then that second person who received the property likely put it into his/her own revocable trust for the process to be repeated.

Cost basis is not $0. When there is a gift, basis is the fair market value (drawn from comps) generally, but not always, at the time the transfer was made. At the very least the basis is what that first person paid plus improvements.