How to Do a Background Check on a House

• Home
• Guest Writers
• Top Articles
• Free Coupons
• Best Sellers
• Books & Deals
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+

Sherin Dev, Professional Investor and editor of MoneyHacker. Started on 2007, MoneyHacker posting vital lessons in wealth creation, protection and lots of personal finance topics.. More about Sherin...

ISA

Are you making the most of your ISA allowance? Halifax offers two types of ISA - cash ISAs and stocks & shares ISAs.

Cash ISA

Savings

If you’re in the market for a new home, you’ve probably checked with local real estate agents and watched the ads in newspapers. Maybe you’ve even taken a drive to look at the houses with for sale signs in front of them. If you see one you like, your first reaction is to probably jump at the opportunity before someone beats you to it. However, it’s better to slow down and think things through before making an offer on the home. There may be problems you’re not aware of, so you may want to consider doing a background check before you buy. Following are a few tips on how do a background check on a house.

Research

Before starting a background check, you should gather as much information about the house as possible. If you know the previous tenant or owner, you can simply ask them about the property. They may be able to tell you if there are any potential problems you’d be facing. It may also be a good idea to ask the people in neighboring homes about the property’s history. Find out if it’s had storm damage or any problems associated with construction, such as termites or a leaky foundation. Ask the neighbors whether or not the roof has been replaced recently or when the driveway was last repaired. Any information that can be supplied by the owner, a previous tenant, or a neighbor can help you decide whether to consider buying the home or to keep searching. You may also want to pay a visit to the county assessor’s office in the county in which the property is located. Have as much information on hand as you possibly can so the people in the office can assist you without delay.

Internet Research

Since we live in the information age, it may be beneficial to do a little online research. After entering the address of the property into a search engine, you will be able to access quite a bit of information about the residence, even if it isn’t for sale. You may have to become a member and pay a small fee to find out about tax records through such websites as www.homeinfomax.com, but the small expenditure could be well worth your time and trouble. Through this website you will be able to access property records that contain such information as basic or detailed property reports, title and transaction history reports, voluntary liens, and other important information.

Other websites, such as www.zillow.com will provide free information, including the property’s perceived value as well as its tax assessment. For a small fee, you can access property records at www.intelius.com, as well. Another Internet website that has information available in a number of different categories is http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com. It may take awhile to wade through all the information, but if you stick to it you should be able to put together a profile of the house in question. This information can be vital in helping you to decide whether or not to purchase the property.

Professional Investigation

If you’re not satisfied with the quality or amount of information you’re able to come up with on your own, you can opt for a professional investigation to be performed. A seasoned professional investigator will be able to access data bases and approach people that you, as an amateur, may not be able to approach. They will undoubtedly know some shortcuts, or have contacts, that you don’t have. As a result, they should be able to dig much deeper into a property’s background than you would be able to do on your own. Keep in mind that these services aren’t free, and the more information you require, the more money you’ll have to pay.

More Professional Help

In the event that you still have some questions regarding the property you’re investigating, you may want to enlist the aid of a real estate attorney to help you. A real estate attorney will be able to do everything they possibly can under the law to help you find out what you need to know. Again, since they are a professional, you will have to pay for their services.

Guest post from Jean Clark. Jean writes for BackgroundCheck.org, a site that educates people about free background check procedures.


Like to Add a Guest Post?
This post was written by a guest writer mentioned above. If you'd like to add a guest post in Money Hacker, please check out Welcome all Guest Writers page for details about how YOU can share your knowledge with our community.