Home Background Checker

Buying or renting a house, apartment and any other real estate property is one of the biggest decisions one could make especially financially. This is an investment where you have to live in it for a long period of time and even permanently so any negative or positive things about it can affect you on a permanent basis as well.

There are now real estate organisations that offer free and paid background report on real estate properties. These background information can include prior transactions such as notice of default and foreclosure data. It could also include flooding reports, zoning areas, facilities available such as schools and police precincts, demographics and so on.

For example for Americans there is an old article from 2011 detailing such organisations. The website is from the National Association of Realtors titled: Run a Background Check on a Home. There could be counterpart organisations in other countries though my initial online checks in other countries like Australia and the Philippines did not show anything.

  If your country or even your city does not have such data available this could be an opportunity for you to earn money. Real estate investments are huge investments and there would be plenty of investors out there who would not mind paying a small amount for such valuable information especially if they themselves would live in such real estate properties.

Authenticity of the Sellers and the Real Estate

These can easily be established by the different real estate organisations associated with the seller and the real estate in question. They would know if the seller truly owns or has the right to sell the real estate in question and whether the land title and all the other documents are authentic. That is why if you are offering this service you should be well connected to real estate organisations responsible for such documents.

Legal Cases on the Real Estate

You would also need to get connected to organisations that handle legal matters regarding real estate cases. There could be instances where there is an ongoing court case regarding the real estate especially ownership disputes. It is helpful if you could inform potential buyers of said real estate whether or not it has an ongoing case or if a case would be filed to it soon.

Flooding and Similar Reports

Flooding reports are usually important to real estate investors. Nobody would like to live in a house that easily floods even only with little rain. Though there are flooding reports available from real estate and government agencies it would be best if you could collate them yourself from online sources especially after flooding or even rains and create your own unique database.

You could record not only flooding but the rain intensity of an area, snow levels, how hot it is during summer in certain areas and so on. Earthquake, tornado, bushfire and other calamity information would be helpful to investors. They may not occur frequently but the result can be catastrophic and could make or break a real estate deal.

Zoning Reports

These are also crucial for the well being of any person living in the real estate. There are easily seen zoning areas such as the division between housing, shopping and industrial real estate. There are however important zoning information not easily noticed like commercial aircraft flying zones. Nobody wants to live in a house where you hear frequent loud noises from commercial aircrafts passing by.

Facilities Reports

One of the things that greatly increases the value of a real estate is its accessibility. This can be easily seen by anyone using maps showing the roads and the thoroughfares connected to the real estate property. One thing that cannot be known easily are such obstacles like traffic volume on certain days and hours. There are also the other issues like animals frequently crossing the roads.

Another important information needed is commuting information. This could include transport services and their routes as well as schedules. The route information could include landmarks and small shops such as newsagents and coffee shops. This requires a lot of research which may include actually experiencing it or taking information from those who have experienced it.

Police Visibility and Fire Stations are also highly prized in real estate investments. This is especially true for areas where there is a tendency for crime to happen. Real estate investors would want proof that the police is actively patrolling the area. A nearby fire station would also be a strong plus in real estate prices. If you can you could also supply the response time of both of them.

Schools, Libraries, Parks, Sports Arenas and so on are also important to real estate investors especially if they have children. The educational record of the school and the safety of child facilities are especially important in the decision making of families who are very concerned with how their children will grow up in an area.

Real estate investors would also like to know the nearby places where they can buy all the products and services they need. It is very uncomfortable if a person has to travel for long distances just to buy the most basic of necessities like grocery products. This is especially true if they have no transport of their own or the roads are always congested.

Neighbour Report

There is nothing so frustrating as having bad relations with your neighbours. From unkept lawns, noise during the day or night, nasty children and so on the list of things your neighbour can do to make your life uncomfortable can be neverending. There is also the danger where your altercations with your neighbour can get fatal.

You could sift through online reports of violent neighbourhoods, report of altercations between neighbours and if you can with police reports. This could be invaluable information especially if the prospective neighbours are actually criminals. Online availability of these information changes with time and if you meticulously create records it could become valuable in time.

Where to Get These Information

You can get these information from formal sources such as real estate organisations and government agencies. You could also collect these information informally from online sources and from the actual people living near these real estate investments. Collating information such that it becomes a fluid, informative and easy to use resource is a marketable service.

Just look at the many online companies that offer all sorts of collated information. The companies offer mailing lists, finance statistics, general information and so on. You can offer background information about real estate investment whose value equates to how thorough your information is.

Conclusion

As previously mentioned real estate background information is a marketable product which has value to people most notably to real estate investors who would actually live in these real estate investments. There are still many information that can be added to the ones mentioned here. The important thing however is that the more thorough your information is the more valuable it becomes.

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