State Specific Question About: NEW JERSEY (NJ)

Most of these things are public record in most states. Is that not the case for NJ?

Things like what a property sold for and what the property taxes paid were are all public record. Most should expect that information to be listed.

Therefore, in most states it isn't "private info" at all -- and any laws that "require" private info to be removed would not apply.

Again, if this is different for NJ, someone please feel free to let me know.

If you wanted to hide that info, you should have purchased your houses under some other entity, sorry.

- John...

Note that when you pull up a record, it says right at the bottom that "Information presented here is obtained from public records..."

- John...

Wow, I can see where you are concerned. I certainly wouldn't want all of my info online.

That said, I'm not sure where you're getting the phrase "private info removed--as required." Does NJ have a law saying that kind of information is personal and must be removed if requested? Is the person/company owning the website in NJ? If not, would NJ law apply to it? Or is this federal law I'm unaware of?

Bottom line is if your name EVER appeared on a deed, it's out there for the world to see/find if they know where to look. So I'm not sure you can claim it is private. Owners are recorded at the country recorder of deeds office, and anyone wanting to do research can do so. This website just made it very convenient for someone to research information that--unless I'm mistaken--is public.

Sales info...not sure where they got that. Did you buy via MLS and perhaps the agent entered that data? Tax records perhaps?

Best bet is to try to keep your name off the deed, or at least off the most RECENT deed. That's one reason I formed an LLC. I don't "own" the property: ABC Rental LLC does. A diligent PO'd tenant could trace that back to me, but deadbeats are rarely diligent.

Their lawyer probably will be, though. It's just one step that might sidetrack SOME goofballs. But sadly, we live in the info age where everyone can find anything about anyone. Unless you were lucky enough to pay cash and get the property into an LLC or trust at the outset, that info is out there. I'm not sure there's anything you can do.

Ted, I did a WHOIS search to determine who owns njparcels.com. The result is that the domain is privately registered.

A private registration is where the domain owner's name, address, telephone, etc. is shielded from public view.

Zillow will state when a property was purchased, how much it sold for and taxes amount paid. I call the Assessors and give an address and they tell me on the phone who owns it and their address, etc. Or I can get from the same County Office all the properties a person owns!

Nothing is private anymore!

If you manage the properties, a tenant could just get their buddy to park their truck down the street and follow you home.

Sorry, Ted, I have to agree with the others.

I have always felt that this type of info was public record. That is part of why I formed an LLC and bought properties with that name - since an attorney is the registered agent, I even get to use that address on the deeds. Helps add a couple layers between the public and my info.

Contact a company that specializes in removing such info. I forget the one that advertizes. Reputation defender? Have an attorney write to the domain proxy.

I can go to my county GIS site and pull up the very same information on all of my properties, including my home address, what I paid for these, when I purchased them, my property taxes, etc..

As has been stated before here, these are all public records.

As everyone else has said, there is no private information being disclosed, and you probably have no recourse, except the AZ shovel.

In fact, I am about to contact my local tax assessor to get the name and address of a neighbor landlord -- I want to put him on notice of a problem.

You can google your a persons name and find out

most all of that stuff anyway. I did on my cousin who is

a doctor, it told me how much money he averaged a year,

how much his business was worth ect.

If someone wants you, they can and will find

you. Hiding that kind of information won't stop them.

Ted,

Thanks for being diligent and concerned. I harp on this all the time.

Our privacy is eroding daily, leading to more exposure to the bad guys.

Just a handful of years ago our state did not track sales prices. Now they do and it's published in the newspaper because "people have a right to know". No they don't. It's gossip that helps sell newspapers.

Suggestion:

1. Transfer the name on the deed into a land trust. Online this will look like you sold it. DO NOT discuss this with our mortgage lender! The mortgage and the deed are not connected.

2. Make the tax bill mailing address something other than your home. We use The UPS Store. You could use your atty for a fee, or a friendly business such as your ins agent's office address or such.

As much as I respect and admire Brad 20K, I recommend caution when transferring title to a property that has a mortgage on it. There are mortgage contracts with "Due on Transfer" clauses, which basically say when you move title the lender can accelerate payments. In short, they can say, "Pay us everything owed on this note in the next 30 days or we can foreclose."

As a practical matter, they rarely do this from what I understand. As long as payments keep coming in on time, the lenders could care less. HOWEVER, there may be some that would exercise this right, say if interest rates started climbing high and lenders want to get their money back ASAP. Today there is little motivation to foreclose since rates are still rock bottom. That could change.

That door swings both ways. It's very easy for me to find info on tenants and prospective tenants. Minnesota posts court records. I can see unpaid debts, criminal behavior, unlawful detainers, DWIs, divorce, name change, etc, etc.

...The mortgage and the deed are not connected....

In addition to due on sale clauses, you also have to worry about a transfer of title terminating the protection of your title insurance. That could be significant.

Your lender will not usually be aware of the transfer of title until there is a change in the fire insurance. The bank is listed as an additionally named insured, and when the insurance is transferred from you to your trust, the bank gets a notice. Otherwise, the lender is normally not aware of the transfer of title.

Another way DEBT enslaves the borrower.

For the record, in my hundreds of contacts and tons of seminars where the speaker asks the crowd, I have NEVER seen an instance where the bank called the loan due.

The mortgage lien in on the LAND.

Transferring the deed to a trust definitely is going to trigger the due on sale clause in most modern mortgages/deeds of trust. HOWEVER, there are certain exemptions to this contained in the Garn St Germaine Act, a federal law. Deeding a property to a trust is exempt. Now if you do something inside the trust to change ownership, that will trigger the due on sale clause, except the bank will not be able to see anything inside the trust. Usually what alerts the lender is the insurance. You want to add the trust to your insurance as an additional insured, leaving your name on the insurance.

My favorite though is the time I took over an old FHA loan. The property was just deeded to me with no formal assumption of the loan. The bank found out, contacted me, and told me they wanted me to fill out a loan application. I ignored that. So then they next told me they were going to accelerate the loan because I had violated the due on sale clause. Unfortunately for the bank, these old FHA loans (prior to 1989) do not have a due on sale clause in them. Lol. So eventually they sold the loan to another bank. That bank actually changed the name on the mortgage to my name, which is how I have the property insured. That loans is almost paid off, just a couple of years.

RL: Sorry, but I disagree. Public records are public records. People are free to collect that public info and do as they please with it -- that is how public data works.

- John...