Is anyone an OTS member?

[brigg]

I am considering signing up for an OTS membership.  I was wondering if anyone else has or has had a membership on OTS and if they feel it is good value for the money.

Thanks!

[PG]

I am a member and am of the view that it does provide excellent value, especially considering the ease of obtaining title searches on properties.

For simplicity and ease of reference, I find that the site is helpful, informative and is well worth the money.

[g2020]

If you are going to buy tax sale property, in my opinion, you have to be a member. You may be a hot shot and not need the data, but you do need to know what your competition knows, even if the information supplied by OTS is not correct - make that, especially if the information supplied by OTS is not correct. The membership fee is a pittance compared to what you should be spending in these days of razor thin profit margins. Yes, OTS supplies a very competitive title search package, but no, it is not as extensive as what you require in a title search for some properties. For instance if you are concerned about being able to get a building permit then you may need to know how a parcel was created, that is, was it created by consent, or by some frowned upon method such as checker boarding, testimonial, or "natural severance" - this information is not usually available electronically so you may need a more expensive search of the paper records. There often is a reason why the owner is letting the property go, and even an OTS membership and title search fee will not give the answer, but it will help you to guess how tight you have to bid. I am a member, albeit not  a very successful one. The problem today is all the redemptions, both before the sale, and immediately after the sale  - being an OTS member may not help because even their "results" do not show post sale redemptions, and their assessed values may make you think that there was a profit to be made where there was none. I prefer Tri-Target to OTS because they show redemptions that occurred after the sale on their featured properties - and they are free!

[Dave2]

Gords post is indicative of the author; elegantly sophisticated and very smart and I am honoured to have met him in person.  It is illustrative of his sagacity that he is enjoying warm southern weather while us poor stay at home locals have to suffer weather that is so cold the Chicago zoo feels that it is not safe to let their polar bear out of doors. 

I agree with him you need at least one and if you are a free range wolve travelling all over the province both OTS and TRitarget.  In my opinion no significant reason to favour one over the other but in individual cases one may provide better economics or quality depending on your need. 

Gord put it better then I could, "In this market you can use all the help you can get. "

[g2020]

Briggs, in case you are still "considering", I forgot to mention that the bargain priced title searches of 50 bucks are only available to members - even if you do your own searches, it is worth 50 just for a double check. I find the most valuable OTS exclusive feature is the tweets. I avoided several trips on the day of sale last year due to the Twitter feature. This may sound overly complimentary - but it is well deserved.