There was another thread that some of the realtors chimed in that title companies could look it up for you. Not having any buddies at title companies I did it by brute force… but not as many details.
The docs and liens are available online -but for a price. I’m not sure, but I think you can go down to the office and look it up there, for free. (I could be amazingly naive about that though.)
For example, if I put in my name I see that there are recorded documents corresponding to:
– deed of the house
– mortgage of the house
– heloc open
– heloc increased
– heloc paid off (reconveyance)
– quit claim for when we got our living trust set up
– mechanics lien from a contractor we’re going to mediation with.
I can’t see the actual documents without paying a fee. But the dates they were filed, and the grantor/grantee info is enough for me to figure it out.
If I wanted to – I could pay between $3 and $7 per document and get them mailed to me. But seeing who the parties are, and the type of doc (trust deed, quit claim, mech lien, reconveyance) is enough. I was checking often after we paid off our heloc… I saw the reconveyance hit the records database the same week we got the paperwork marked “paid in full” from the bank.