I need a list of all people who have had foreclosures filed against
them in Philadelphia, Pa. I can access the Civil Docket Report at
www.courts.phila.gov, enter a docket number, then get info on the
defendants. However, there are many types of cases listed and I just
want foreclosures. To get foreclosures only, each individual docket
number must be entered, then the non-foreclosures disregarded. This is
extremely time consuming.

The problem is that the site,
fjdweb2.phila.gov/fjd/zk_fjd_public_qry_03.zp_dktrpt_frames is in
frames. I have done some research, but only could find info directed
at webmasters telling them not to use frames. I need some way to
search the frames.

The question: how to search this site weekly to quickly give me the
dockets for mortgage foreclosures?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 22 Jan 2005 19:10 PST

There may be an alternative way to get the info you're looking for.

A company called RealtyTrac compiles a pretty deep database of
national foreclosure activities.

Their current listings for Philadelphia can be seen here, and include
filings from just a few days ago:


http://www.realtytrac.com//freeSearchResult.asp?zipcode=philadelphia&zipOnly=true&submit=Begin+Search


You can sign up for a free 7-day trial registration at the site to see
more detailed information on each listing.

Does this meet your needs...?

pafalafa-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 23 Jan 2005 06:07 PST

And here is a similar link from another service:


http://www.foreclosurefreesearch.com/county?state=PA&countyNo=045


The listings marked "New" are the most recent.  Again, a free trial is
available at the site to see the full details of each listing.

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Clarification of Question by paulmodesti-ga on 23 Jan 2005 09:39 PST

pafalafa, Many thanks for the the info on alternate foreclosure lists,
but I would really rather search this database.

aaronharsh, I looked at the firefox section of mozilla, but found no
info on firefox searching frames. Have you tried it? does it work on
the docket site in question?
   I also saw your info on pasting to the address bar. The problem is
to search all of the dockets for mortgage foreclosures (to weed out
personal injury, contract disputes, landlord tenant, etc).
Foreclosures are only about 10% of all cases. Have you tried this
solution on the site to see if it works?

Can't access the url you have listed.  Can you repost?

The URL is: http://courts.phila.gov

At www.courts.phila.gov, click on online services:display civil docket report. 
Then go through the disclaimers, and you will reach a prompt to enter
the nine digit docket number. When you enter a number, example
041001010, it will display the docket report for that case (at the
above url). If you enter another number, example 041001011, the docket
report for that case will appear, but the url remains unchanged.

There are a couple ways you can do this.  One is to switch from to
Mozilla's Firefox browser, which will let you search inside frames.

Another way is to load the frame directly, which should work in any
browser.  Pull up a docket report, right-click in the middle of the
page, then click 'Properties'.  You should see an 'Address:' that
looks something like:

http://fjdweb2.phila.gov/fjd/zk_fjd_public_qry_03.zp_dktrpt_docket_report?case_id=041001010

Copy and paste that URL into your browser's address bar.  The
information is no longer in a frame, and you can search inside it with
Internet explorer.  Note that the docket number is at the end of the
address.  Switch to another docket by changing the docket number in
the address bar.

You could search for a likely word in the name of the foreclosing
party -- "bank" is a possibility -- and scan the results.

The site was too busy for me to try this idea.  Perhaps there are so
many "bank" parties that the search would never work.  (You could
limit by date to reduce the number of potential results.)  Moreover,
it likely wouldn't capture all foreclosure cases.

But if it works, it's better than nothing.

(tested on Firefox, must work in IE)
Create two bookmarks in your bookmarks toolbar :
- "docket start" with this url:
javascript:docketid=window.prompt(%22docket# to start from:%22);
window.location=%22http://fjdweb2.phila.gov/fjd/zk_fjd_public_qry_03.zp_dktrpt_docket_report?case_id=%22
+ docketid;

- "docket next" with this url:
javascript:if (!window.ff &&
window.document.body.innerHTML.search(/foreclosure/i) != -1)
{window.ff=true; window.alert('Foreclosure found!');} else {docketid =
Number(String(window.location).slice(-9)) + 1000000001;
window.location=%22http://fjdweb2.phila.gov/fjd/zk_fjd_public_qry_03.zp_dktrpt_docket_report?case_id=%22
+ String(docketid).slice(1);}

You click "docket start", you are prompted for a docket#, the page
load and then you click on "docket next". Docket next will alert you
once per docket report if the current docket report contains
"foreclosure".

Hope this will help.

(why can't we applicate any more for becoming a researcher ?
(rhetorical question: I read the FAQ))

christophe à cgrand.net

Thanks for your comment cgrande. I loaded Firefox and created the two
bookmarks you suggested, but nothing happens when I click on them. Can
you double check the urls you gave me to bookmark. I have checked my
typing twice and entered exactly as written.

Hmmm, I fear Google Answers munched the urls.
Start your favorite text editor, type:

javascript:docketid=window.prompt("docket# to start from:");
window.location="http://fjdweb2.phila.gov/fjd/zk_fjd_public_qry_03.zp_dktrpt_docket_report?case_id="
  + docketid;

javascript:if (!window.ff &&
window.document.body.innerHTML.search(/foreclosure/i) != -1) {
  window.ff=true; 
  window.alert('Foreclosure found!');
} else {
  docketid = Number(String(window.location).slice(-9)) + 1000000001;
  window.location="http://fjdweb2.phila.gov/fjd/zk_fjd_public_qry_03.zp_dktrpt_docket_report?case_id="
+ String(docketid).slice(1);
}

I copy-pasted the code above in two bookmarks ("dockstart" and
"docknext") in my bookmarks toolbar, clicked on "dockstart", entered
041001011, the report loaded, I clicked on "docknext" several times
(90) up to the report 041001091 where an alert popped up because it's
a foreclosure. So this time, I think you'll get it right.

I think this solution could be refined into an html page. In a full
fledged HTML page w/ an IFRAME for displaying the report it may be
possible to eliminate the need to click "next" for each irrelevant
report.

If it sill don't work, drop me a mail 'cause I don't check Google
Answers that often.

"If it sill don't work," => "If it still doesn't work," (stupid lazy
fingers, my wrists ache)

I would post a bid request on http://www.rentacoder.com and get
someone to develop a small application to do this for you.