Question about a landlord ownership (short sale, foreclosure, rent)

[ladyshasta2]

when renting from a private owner where would I go to find out if the owner is up to date with payments and not at chance of foreclosure?

[mbmouse]

I'd assume the county court house. It is public record if a property is in foreclosure.

[MrsMopar]

Another place to check, at least on tax payments, is through the state of Tennessee tax assessors website.

Tennessee Property Data Home Page

We actually were going to do an 'owner finance' home when we first moved here. I checked that website and found the house was 2 years behind on the tax payments. Oddly enough, the following week the house was up for "short sale" and now it's off the market in foreclosure.

You can check that website for who actually owns the property and search off that as well.

I commend you for checking into the property before handing over the cash. I wish you the best!

[ladyshasta2]

thanks Mrs Mopar and mbmouse for your suggestions and compliments.

IN 1995 we (5 of us; 2 adults, three kids, a dog, two cats) rented a hugh house that a man said was his. His father and mother died and left him the house. Uh, he forgot to tell us something. His mother died and then his father remarried and added his new wifes name to the deed. (house was free and clear). Then she left and never stepped foot on the property again. Then he died. Then she died 10 years later . When she died, we got a visit from her sons. We were trespassers and got sued all the rent money that we had given the person who rented to us. We also got evicted. We had to pay her sons all that rent money (2 years) plus court costs. What a nightmare. He, the person we rented from, never gave us back any of the money we gave him, in fact when she died, he hightailed it outta there.

It made a mess out of our good credit and we had to wait another four years for everything to get "old" so that we could try to buy a house.

I DON'T want to go thro that again!

[creeksitter]

You can look up the owner card on KGIS.org and see when they bought the house and what they paid for it. So you can guess whether they may be "underwater". Of course that won't tell you whether they did a refinance or home equity loan. You'd need to do a title search for that.

Maybe check out where they live now and what kind of car they drive to see if they are living above their means?