Thread: Loan or all cash

Many different things to think about here. Is the property going to be as a primary residence? Is it an investment property? What is you income (can you use write-offs)? Good idea to talk to a CPA to help you answer some of these questions.

In some counties in the US, you can find out from the county office that records home sales. Not all track this information but if this is in the US, go the county office where the property is located and look up the address. Lots of counties also have this information on line.

I would start your search online. Find out what county the property is in and then google "[county] deed registrar" that should take you to a website which at least has a phone number to call and ask. Best case scenario, you'll find all the registered information about the house including who owns it and how much it was bought for. That should get you started on your search.

The answer depends on whether they can earn more by investing the cash than they'll pay in interest on the mortgage. If your mortgage is 6% and you could earn 10% on your money elsewhere, take the loan. But if the best return you can get on your money is 4%, pay cash for the house, where you "earn" a guaranteed 6% by not paying interest.

It's funny how some people who answered your question obviously didn't read your question

Where I live the tax assessor has that kind of information on a property. So you can try to ask the tax assessor if the property has a mortgage out on it or get the name of the property owner and just call him an ask him. Is this property for sale? If it is just call the listing Realtor and ask him, he will know all that information.

Contact the realtor who has this home listed,from them you can get all the necessary details.
Or simple ask the owner about the property,no on will hide this,if they really going to sell it.

do a title search. in my area most realtors have access to title information that has general information about the property and any liens on the property.

I would simply head on down to your local recorders office and explain that you would like to look up real estate titles. These should indicate the terms of the sale.

Head to the County office. Here in Minnesota, the county records all mortgages, liens, etc. so the information is very quickly obtained by stopping in to the county recorder's office. Of course all states are a little different. But it will be the fastest way to get what you need.