How to get LA County tax billing address info?

Question

This week I took a leap and jumped into starting my business as a wholesaling newbie. I had an exciting time driving for dollars and was able to locate almost 200 distressed properties with 3 of them being vacant. Everything I have read and listened to said the next step was to determine if there were absentee owners for the properties. Everyone said that this was simple to do by going to the tax assessor's website for the county you live in and finding the address to where the tax bill was sent. It was very easy to get to the assessor's site for Los Angeles County where I lived and very simple to look up the property information. However, the property information did not include the address for the tax bill. When I called the assessor's office the lady I spoke to said that the site didn't include this information because it was confidential, but she could give me the information for any particular address over the phone. I asked why could I get the information from her over the phone if it was confidential but I couldn't get it over the website. She said that was just the way the site was designed.

I can't keep calling this lady for tax address information, especially if I've got close to 200 properties to look at. Is there an easier way to get this information? Any investors doing deals in Los Angeles County, do you have any tips?

Btw, I'm starting with driving for dollars because I don't have the funding to consistently do a mailing campaign so any help that can be provided would be greatly appreciated.

I can't keep calling this lady for tax address information, especially if I've got close to 200 properties to look at. Is there an easier way to get this information? Any investors doing deals in Los Angeles County, do you have any tips?

Btw, I'm starting with driving for dollars because I don't have the funding to consistently do a mailing campaign so any help that can be provided would be greatly appreciated.

Walter Roby jr · Answer

download propertyradar

Jennifer Ramsey · Answer

Congrats on making the big leap Calvin. The first step is the hardest!

I had the same problem; I typically wholesale in LA and OC County. Networking with title companies was very helpful; they can provide the mailing address.

Another option is talking to the neighbors. You would be surprised how much information they will provide.

The most expensive option is buying lead generating software.

Kyle J. · Answer

@Calvin Rankin  No county assessor in California will post the owner's information online because of California Government Code Section 6254.21 which states that “No state or local agency shall post the home address or telephone number of any elected or appointed official on the internet without first obtaining the written permission of that individual.”  They have no way of knowing who is an "elected or appointed official", and the cost to continually update that would be cost/time prohibitive, so they just don't list anyone's info online.  However, you can still get it by going into the assessor's office in person, or in some cases calling or emailing them to get it.  They just can't post it online.

I agree with you though that doing that for 200 properties at a time probably isn't going to work.  If you're going to continue needing to pull that many, you may need to sign up for a service like Property Radar so you have direct access to property owner info for the properties you're interested in.

Gary K. · Answer

Anyone Know a good title company in LA county for a "Wholsaler/Flipper"?

Samuel Pawlitzki · Answer

@Calvin Rankin

Network with a title company to give you back-end access to public records property searches.

In return tell them you will use them as the title company on all deals

Calvin Rankin · Answer

Hi everyone. I'm sorry for the long delay in replying. There was an emergency that came up that took some time to resolve. I'm happy to say that I was able to take @Jennifer Ramsey 's advice and connect with a local title company that was willing to give me access to the website that they use to identify properties and the owners. In exchange I've agreed to work deals through them which I am happy to do. Tomorrow I begin my first yellow letter campaign based on the information that I was able to obtain. I'm pretty happy to be moving forward,

Mark Pedroza · Answer

@Calvin Rankin

Try this webpage: https://datastore.netronline.com/

You may have to create a new account to access. Yes you can pay for some products but there's free information as well.

Samuel Pawlitzki · Answer

@Calvin Rankin yes a lot of people are surprised to know all that info is out there. As far as I know, it works like that nationwide. Not just in California.

One time I had a lady give me a nasty call because I sent an advertising letter to the trust that was technically the owner of her home. She was perplexed that I somehow knew the name of her trust, and very angry. I tried to tell her that it's all public info.....

Calvin Rankin · Answer

@Jennifer Ramsey @ Samuel Pawlitzki @Kyle J. Thank you very much. Your information is very helpful and very insightful. The information that I had was according to people who had their businesses in other states. I had assumed that since they each had students across the country then their blanket statements covered California as well. I guess not. Thanks so much!

@Manolo D. I understand your point. When I first started researching real estate investing I was surprised to learn that this information wasn't protected. It makes investing easier but its still surprising. 😊

How to get LA County tax billing address info?

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