I need to learn how to find a list of all the residential properties
owned by a company in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area.  In
other words, I need to find a central database listing the owners of
every property in Massachusetts, where I could enter the company name
and pull up all of their properties, with addresses.  [The company
does not list the information on its website, and I might want to
check more than one company, which is why I am asking for the
principal of how to do this, rather than asking for the specific list
for the specific company.]

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 30 Sep 2005 15:27 PDT

I think I know the way to do this, but to be on the safe side, it
would help to have an example of a company to check out.

Can you provide the name of one of the companies you're interested in,
so I can give it a trial run?

Thanks,

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by fdsa-ga on 01 Oct 2005 11:39 PDT

Thanks for checking in with me.  It looks like for the time being I am
all set.  I will get back to you if I turns out I do need the question
answered.

I've done similar research in the past... depending on the level of
detail you want, you may need to pay for the service. Most
municipalities have an online title search tool, but it's very simple.

If you're trying to do comprehensive valuation of a company's "true"
holdings, you'll likely have to spend some time at the relevant
states' Secretary of State websites. There you can find all the
related companies. For example, you may be looking for all the
properties owned by Property Holders LLC. Searching a title database
will only return properties owned by that specific company. If
Property Holders LLC has a subsidiary (Growing Investments PC) that
also owns property, you will miss all the titles registered to the
subsidiary.

Again, this can become a very involved process spanning multiple
companies in multiple states, so I'd recommend using a professional
firm if you're doing this for serious commercial or legal reasons.

Good Luck!