I can understand why real estate transactions are public record. But the mortgage loan are too.
Any time I’ve gotten a new mortgage, I end up getting a ton of unsolicited stuff in the mail from scammers trying to make their letters look like they are official from the mortgage company and I must buy insurance or something. Always comes with a postage paid envelope to send back the form to them too.
I can’t figure out why it should be anyone’s business if a neighbor got a HELOC or new mortgage? I decided to look online to see what is available and found out in court records it shows the credit limit. It doesn’t show the balance, but it shows who’s names are on the loan.
But what I don’t understand is why are any of these mortgage loans public record? What is this information useful for to anyone except to get junk mail from scammers?
I’m trying to think of a situation where it would be legitimately useful to know this information about something.
It was useful to me. I had neglected to tell my insurance company that I paid off my mortgage. When I had a (substantial) claim, the check was made out to me and the bank (which had been merged out of business).
I was able to get the documentation (online!) that the loan had been paid, so they reissued the check.
If it weren’t public knowledge you could ask a bank for a mortgage on your property and they would have no way of knowing that there wasn’t a mortgage on it already. You can of course get a private loan not a mortgage giving your property as collateral, but no one would give you such a loan since you could then turn around and get a properly registered mortgage, leaving the original lender second in line to collect his loan. You can also get a second mortgage, but the second lender will charge a higher rate, knowing that he is second in line to collect.
IIRC, in most places, the mortgage lien placed on a property, like the title information, is public record. they may not publish the details, but the amount of the lien is on record, and most likely the owner and the lender.
A lot of property information, although not technically a “public record” is available. If you poke around on your county web site and look under tax maps or something similar you can find all sorts of info.
Probably wouldn’t work in a densely populated urban area but in my rural area I can find out, among other data, who owns the property, see property lines and structures and the date built, assessed value as taxed, market value, and probably more. I can either enter the address and find out the info on that particular site or enter a person’s name and find property that they own. When I worked for a local building contractor we would use this info to slap a lien on the property of delinquent accounts.
Lenders, realtors, county officials can pull up this info without ever leaving their desk. Saves a lot of time. You can call your bank and set up a appointment for a HELOC loan and by the time you get there they have everything they need to approve you.
Some counties have a subscription requirement and some have the info locked out except for need to know types, but not all.
The mortgage lien is registered with the Land Title so that when a sale is planned/occurs, the necessary people can be paid off. What good is a lien if I can sell my property, collect the full value, and the bank doesn’t get a chance to collect their share? Also protection for the buyer - any claims are registered with the title. If I buy a property and there’s no liens, then nobody can come along later and try to foreclose or demand payments.
The whole point of mortgage vs ordinary loan is that if you default on the mortgage, the lender can take your property. That’s pretty useless if the land can still be sold without the lender collecting, forcing them into a legal battle with a surprised new owner. It’s also crap for the buyer if lenders can pop out of the woodwork later saying “you also owe me…” So the system tracks liens, who owes, and who is owed -and it’s publicly available.
Missouri’s that way too. However, in both states, the fact that it WAS sold, and by whom and to whom and when, are indeed public record, as are mortgages/deeds of trust, liens, easements, and other filings affecting property and property rights. Anybody who wants a copy can buy one from the relevant government office, or oftentimes from various private companies who maintain their own databases.
Also, at least in Missouri, while you are not required to tell the government how much you paid for the property, the local realtors’ service frequently knows anyway, and member realtors will disclose the information if asked.
In some states the amount paid is not a matter of public record, but the amount of tax paid is, so anyone who can do simple math can calculate the sale price.
Well, in Missouri*, the county appraiser frequently won’t know what you paid (cite), and there’s no transfer tax assessed on the sale. The appraiser will assign a value to the home for property tax purposes based on what s/he THINKS the place is worth relative to others, but whether that value accurately reflects the sale price is anybody’s guess. Simple math won’t cut it.
*St. Louis County, and I think one other, has its own rules.
My parents own my mortagage, but it’s official, drawn up by a lawyer, registered, all that. When we did the re-fi, I got tons of letters made to look like they came from my parents, presumably because the companies sending them just C&P their name in from the public records.