People all over the United States access public data every single day for all sorts of things. Some people just like to look into others’ backgrounds while other people like to find information that can save them money or even make them some money. Doing a public data search has all sorts of benefits that can be measured for each person. Obviously, results can vary because there are a million and one different things you can do with public records. Many of those things won’t even appear on this list; a lot of it takes a lot of creativity. Let’s look at how doing this kind of search could help you save or even make some money.
The Money Saving Aspect of Public Data
You may have approached this article a little confused as to what we were talking about. If you don’t use public records, there’s a good chance that the idea of using them to save yourself some money never crossed your mind. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways you can use public records to your advantage, and your wallet will be very grateful for you when you do. Let’s start off by looking at a few ways you can save some money.
The first way is simple. You just look into real estate records of properties you’re considering buying so you can find out how much the property was appraised for the last time it was appraised, how much property taxes are, and what home insurance rates on the property could potentially look like. That last item can vary from state to state, but you can expect to at least find the first two. That information can allow you to try and haggle with the real estate that’s selling the house, but it could also tell you that you should be looking elsewhere for your property.
Driving Records
That’s not the only way public records can save you some money, but it is one of the more direct ways. If you access someone’s driving records, you can see if they have a history of being a bad driver before you decide to allow them to drive your car. If you let them drive your car and they have a history of getting in car accidents, at the very least, your insurance premium will go up. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll be on the hook not only for your own car but the car that this person hit. That’s not even including potential medical bills, legal fees, the list goes on.
Your driving records can actually save you money on insurance in another way. Your insurance company has ways to access your driving records on a much deeper level than public records, but those records are what the companies go on to decide how much your rate should be. That means that if your driving record is clean, you shouldn’t have an issue saving money on insurance, depending on what insurance company you go to and how much coverage you get on your car.
Public Records Searches Making You Money?
If the idea of public records searches saving you some money caught you off guard, the idea of making money from public records may come as an even larger shock. It’s the truth, though, and millions of people use public records every single year to help them earn some money. You could even do the same if you have the right kind of business with the right business model. We’re not going to say it’s easy, but it’s definitely a useful tool to have.
Real Estate Records
The first example we’ll look at will actually be the same first example we looked at in the last section. Real estate records can give you a great number of details about a property. How does that help you make money exactly? Two short words, investment properties. You can use real estate records to help you determine if a property would be worth buying to rent out to tenants or if you should look at other places. You can find out about how much you can expect to spend on it every year while comparing that to the average rent of the area. Once you do that, you can know if that property will be likely to make you money or not.
Business Records
The next example of public records that can make you money is business records. Now, we are going to talk about the stock market for a moment, so it is important to note that it is entirely possible to lose a lot of money no matter how much careful research you do. In any case, businesses that are publicly traded are required to put out business records. That information can be looked through by anyone, and you can determine based on that information if the company is worth buying into or not. Of course, even the best investors in the world lose millions of dollars every year, so be careful if you choose to do this.
Another way that a lot of people capitalize on public records is through advertising. There are a lot of things that you might not realize fall under public records. Birth certificates, death certificates, arrest records, marriage certificates, the list goes on. What a lot of people do is go through these records and send out mailers for their specific situation. For example, let’s say you just got a DUI or DWI, depending on what your state calls it. More than likely, law firms will inundate you with mailers advertising their firms. People from other industries do this a lot, as well. It’s pretty common practice.
If you’ve ever been in a situation like that, you’re probably well aware of the preposterous number of law firms that will send you mail. You never really realize how many lawyers there are until they’re filling up your mailbox with stuff that will mostly end up in the trash. This is actually very effective, though. Not everyone will contact a lawyer that mails them, but many people will contact one of them. For lawyers, a single case can cover the cost of advertising to everyone that didn’t contact them.
Birth Records
If you’ve ever given birth or had someone you love give birth, you’ve probably noticed a lot of the same. The idea behind this is that most people are going to go to someone that’s within arms reach for their needs, and it’s easier to get someone to remember your company when they need to call someone if they’ve already seen or heard your name. It builds an air of familiarity with the potential client, and that’s usually good for sales. If your potential clients feel like they can trust your company, they’ll probably give you money.
Now, this advertising trick doesn’t work for every type of business. In some businesses, it would even be in bad taste to do so. No one wants caterers filling up their mailbox when they’re trying to plan the funeral of a loved one. That being said, while this can be pretty lucrative, you have to remember the nature of your business and keep in mind how potential clients might feel about your contacting them. In many cases, it can be ok to come off as annoying with the intention of being helpful, but many people won’t take super kindly to some approaches.
You can also capitalize on other things surrounding these types of things, though, and many creative people do. There are a lot of ways to make money using public records. All you need is a little bit of creativity and some start-up money to get the ball rolling. After that, it’s just a matter of if your business model is strong enough to remain profitable long enough to make a living off of it and hopefully retire from it someday.
Public Records and Savings go Together like Peanut Butter and Jelly
Everyone wants to save a little money. A little money saved here and there adds up and can even save you a lot of trouble in the long run. Whether you’re just saving up for a rainy day or you want to put a down payment on a house, figuring out the best ways to save money can help you increase your savings account by a lot. Fortunately, there’s a ton of information available about how to do just that, and a lot of it is pretty easy.
***SpyFly provides consumers affordable, immediate access to public record information. Federal laws prohibit businesses from using SpyFly’s service to make decisions about employment, insurance, consumer credit, tenant screening, or for any other purpose subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq.**