Great minds think alike! (or, fools seldom differ, I don’t know which camp I belong to anymore..) I’m also keeping an eye on Topanga with a view to buy sometime in 2007.
Personally, I like ZipRealty much better than Realtor.com, as you get juicy bits of information like Days On Market (DOM) and price increases/reductions. Not that DOM means much these days, as quite a few places get taken off the MLS only to be relisted with a new DOM a few days later.
Once I’ve found an interesting place, I look it up on Zillow to see the real square footage (Zip tends to include unpermitted sq footage, rather than what the tax assessment says), last years Tax Assessed Value and what it sold for in previous years. The Zestimates are ‘for entertainmant purposes only’, but you do get a list of recently sold houses nearby to get some idea of what the locale is doing. Unfortunately,
I have no idea how you would find information on Inactive properties, whether pending, in escrow etc…I normally check my “Inactive” list on Zip each week and then go to Zillow to see if it has sold. If anyone knows a better way of doing this, I’d like to know too!
There’s also foreclosure.com, which I’ve looked at, but as its a paying site I haven’t signed on to it.
Also, although I haven’t done it yet myself, the LA County Offices have records on each property, and are online IIRC.
Both Zillow and Zip are free, so if you’re just a looky-loo like I am, there’s plenty to be getting on with.
