An attorneys guide to internet resources in real property transactions and litigation

An Attorney’s Guide to Internet Resources in
Real Property Transactions and Litigation
Adam Leitman Bailey, Esq and Colin Kaufman, Esq.
Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.
____________________________________________________________________
26 Broadway, 21st
Floor, New York, NY 10004 ●T (212) 825-0365 F (212) 825-0999
www.alblawfirm.com

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Adam Leitman Bailey, Esq.
Colin E. Kaufman, Esq.
Adam Leitman Bailey P.C.
26 Broadway, 21st
Floor
New York, NY 10004
Tel: 212-825-0365
Fax: 212-825-0999
www.alblawfirm.com
An Attorney’s Guide to Internet Resources
in Real Property Transactions and Litigation
By Adam Leitman Bailey, Esq and Colin Kaufman, Esq.
Use of the internet is a necessity for today’s property lawyer, investor or manager. While
it does not replace traditional research skills, the internet and the resources available on it
permit a speed and breadth of research unimaginable just a few years ago.
A hyperlinked copy of the outline below will be posted on our website at
http://www.alblawfirm.com/
CAVEAT: Most, but not all of the websites listed here are used by us in our practice.
However, since we have no control over their content, we take no responsibility for their
accuracy or currency of information. All links are good as of November 21, 2006.
Basic Internet Tools to Find Anything About Everything On the Internet
1. Internet Connection
a) Four components:
i) Computer
(1) Speed v. storage v. RAM
(2) convenience v cost v power
ii) Operating System
(1) e.g. Windows (many flavors), Linux, Sparc
iii) Line
(1) dial up
(2) DSL
(3) T-1
(4) fiberoptic, dish, etc
iv) browser – a software application which permits the user to interact graphically
with the web
(1) Most popular: Internet Explorer
(2) most versatile: (IMHO) Mozilla
(3) may need/want more than one (Netscape, Opera, Firefox, AOL Explorer,
Apple Safari )
(a) http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/default.asp
(b) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers

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2. Basic Tools
a) Search engines
i) E.g. Google http://www.google.com (by far the most popular and usually the
most useful), Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com/, http://www.ask.com/ , Windows
Live http://www.live.com/ , Lycos http://www.lycos.com/ , Clusty
http://clusty.com/ (for more, see http://searchenginewatch.com/),
b) Meta-search
i) E.g. Dogpile http://www.dogpile.com/ , Webcrawler
http://www.webcrawler.com/ , metacrawler http://www.metacrawler.com/ ,
surfwax http://www.surfwax.com/index.html , search.com
http://www.search.com/
ii) New and interesting: goshme.com refers searcher to specialized search
engines http://goshme.com/
iii) One of the best, (I think) is A9 http://a9.com/ , which allows a single search
for web, books, images
c) General “drill-down” databases a/k/a directories
i) E.g. About.com http://about.com/, Yahoo Directory http://dir.yahoo.com/, The
Open Directory Project http://dmoz.org/
d) Specific topical databases (many not indexed by spiderbots from the search
engines)
i) E.g. New York State Corporate Listings
http://appsext5.dos.state.ny.us/corp_public/corpsearch.entity_search_entry ,
ii) NYS Professional Licenses http://www.op.nysed.gov/opsearches.htm ,
iii) New York City Administrative Decisions
http://www.citylaw.org/cityadmin.php
3. Using Search Engines
a) Search strategy
i) Where do you want to end up
(1) Searching for general information about an area/topic/person
(2) searching for specific information
(3) seeking to confirm
ii) What particular search areas do you want to query
(1) General v. specific
iii) Query language(s)
(1) Go to “Help”
(2) Always use “Advanced Search” until you are familiar with the search
engine

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iv) Refining or expanding your query
(1) Add or subtract terms
(2) Alternate spellings
(3) Other search engines
(4) Specialized searches
b) Maximizing internet searches,
i) Query Construction
(1) structure
(2) choice of words
(3) stemming
(4) quotes
ii) Pay attention to the supported grammar of the engines
(1) operators
(2) advanced v basic search
Due Diligence on a Property
1. Due Diligence: Navigating the Internet to Locate and Learn About Property
a) Finding investment properties
i) Using the internet to find property
(1) establish criteria
(a) geographic location
(i) neighborhood
(b) last sale price
(c) comparables
(d) zoning
ii) Online News
(1) More General
(a) NY Times Real Estate http://www.nytimes.com/pages/realestate/
(b) NY Post Real Estate http://www.nypost.com/realestate/
(c) NY Sun Real Estate http://www.nysun.com/section/22
(2) Real Estate Oriented
(a) The Real Deal http://www.therealdeal.net/
(b) StreetEasy http://www.streeteasy.com/
(c) Costar Group NYC Commerical Real Estate News
http://www.costar.com/News/Default.aspx?market=NYC
(d) Wall Street Journal, Real Estate Journal
http://www.realestatejournal.com/
(e) NY Observer Real Estate http://therealestate.observer.com/ and
http://www.observer.com/20060508/subtoc_financeproperty.asp
(f) The Cooperator http://www.cooperator.com/index.shtml
(g) New YorK Magazine Real Estate
http://www.newyorkmetro.com/realestate/index.html

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(3) Buildings and facilities
(a) Today’s Facility Manager
http://www.todaysfacilitymanager.com/default.php
(b) Buildings.com http://www.buildings.com/default.asp
iii) Blogs (Web logs)
(1) find at http://www.technorati.com/
(2) http://www.curbed.com/
(3) http://propertygrunt.blogspot.com/
(4) http://matrix.millersamuel.com/
iv) RE Searches
(1) every broker
(2) Citifeet:
http://www.cityfeet.com/NewYorkCommercialRealEstateLocal/NewYork
CommercialRealEstate.aspx?PartnerPath=&
v) NYC Lien Sale Notices
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/property/property_bill_taxlien.shtml#notic
es
vi) Business Improvement Districts
(1) 125th
Street: http://125thstreetbid.com/
(2) Columbus Avenue http://www.columbusavenuebid.org/home.html
(3) Grand Central http://www.grandcentralpartnership.org/home.asp
(4) Times Square: http://www.timessquarenyc.org/
(5) Downtown Alliance: http://www.downtownny.com/
(6) Lower East Side: http://www.lowereastsideny.com/
(7) Full listing of BID’s:
http://www.newyorkbusiness.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061016/S
TATIC/61116014&SearchID=73263648620356or
(8) http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/html/bid.html
Decisional law
1. Lexis http://www.lexis.com/ (subscription),
http://www.lexisone.com/caselaw/freecaselaw?action=FCLDisplayCaseSearc
hForm (free but very limited)
2. Westlaw http://web2.westlaw.com/ (subscription)
3. Findlaw http://lawcrawler.findlaw.com/ , Hieros Gamos http://www.hg.org/
and
http://www.hg.org/redir.asp?url=http://www.lexisone.com/legalresearch/legal
guide/states/new_york.htm
4. OCA online search (Supreme Civil and some Supreme Criminal)
http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcivil/FCASJcaptcha
5. More extensive “electronic case files” for New York County (SCROLL)
http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/iscroll/jcaptcha
6. New York Official Reports (Court of Appeals, Appellate Divisions, some trial
court decisions)

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http://government.westlaw.com/nyofficial/search/default.asp?tempinfo=SEAR
CH
7. Great general legal source http://www.llrx.com/
8. American Law Sources online
http://www.lawsource.com/also/usa.cgi?ny#Z7Q
9. Statutes and Regulations
i) NYS laws
http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menugetf.cgi?COMMONQUERY=LA
WS
ii) NYC Building Code
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/reference/code_internet.shtml and
updates
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/reference/code_update06.shtml
iii) NYC Electrical Code
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/model/nec.shtml
iv) NYC Index (by Topic) to Selected Department of Building Directives,
Memoranda, Policy & Procedure Notices and Interpretations
1. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/reference/a-
index.shtml
v) Rent Stabilization Code
http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/ora/pubs/html/rentcode.htm
vi) Emergency Tenant Protection Regulations
http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/ora/pubs/html/rentregsetpa.htm and
http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/ora/pubs/html/2005etpr.htm
vii)Selected DOB Rules and Reference Standards
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/reference/stan_rules.shtml
viii) Current New York City Administrative Decisions:
10. Governmental Agencies
a) US Government portal http://www.firstgov.gov/
b) NYS portal http://www.state.ny.us/
c) NYC portal http://nyc.gov/portal/index.jsp?front_door=true and (to
search)
http://search1.nyc.gov/search?access=p&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&
output=xml_no_dtd&site=default_collection&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-
8&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&ip=68.236
.174.4&proxycustom=%3CADVANCED/%3E
d) HUD: http://www.hud.gov/
e) NYS DHCR http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/
f) NYC Board of Standards & Appeals:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/bsa/html/home/home.shtml
g) NYC Council Land Use:
h) NYC Dept of City Planning http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/home.html
i) Zoning Maps http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/zone/zmapintr.shtml
ii) Zoning Text http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/zone/zonetext.shtml

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iii) Land Use Application Status
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/lu_apps/lu_app1.shtml
i) Department of Buildings
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/home/home.shtml
i) DOB Building Information System http://a810-
bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bsqpm01.jsp
j) NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal
http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/ora/ora.htm
k) NYC Rent Guidelines Board http://www.housingnyc.com/
l) NYC Environmental Control Board
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/ecb.html
m) NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/home/home.shtml
n) Worker’s Compensation Board Forms
http://www.wcb.state.ny.us/content/main/Forms.jsp
o) Useful Items Not Available on the Internet as of Date of Lecture
(1) Housing Court Decisions
(2) Title Reports
(3) Lis Pendens (there are some commercial services; we have not
used them and therefore cannot recommend them)
(4) Department of Housing and Community Renewal decisions and
judgments
Purchase Information
1. General
Property Shark (free and subscription)
http://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Accounts/logon.html
Real Estate Board of NY (subscription)
https://members.rebny.com/html/welcome.html
2. Other addresses for the premises
a) NYC Housing Preservation & Development
http://167.153.4.71/hpdonline/provide_address.aspx
3. Sales prices
a) Top Real Estate Brokers in Area
b) Comparable Sales Prices
i) Real Estate Board of NY (subscription)
https://members.rebny.com/html/welcome.html
ii) Property Shark http://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Accounts/logon.html
iii) Zillow http://www.zillow.com/
iv) Real Estate ABC http://www.realestateabc.com/home-values/
v) Home Price Records http://www.homepricerecords.com/
c) Recorded Documents
ACRIS (Automated City Register Information System)
http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/Coverpage.dll/index
Property Shark http://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Accounts/logon.html

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d) Number of floors Property Shark
e) Year built/Pre-War/Post War Property Shark
f) Elevator/Walkup Property Shark
g) Floor plans – brokers (also search building for old listings, retrieve cached pages)
h) Locating a Seller
ACRIS (Automated City Register Information System)
Property Shark http://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Accounts/logon.html
p) Determining Information About a Property
i) Owner
(1) HPD Registration
(2) Deed/filed leases ACRIS
(3) Who is paying taxes NYC Department of Finance
http://webapps.nyc.gov:8084/CICS/fin1/find001I
ii) Managing agent HPD Registration
iii) Taxes
(1) Amount of taxes: NYC Department of Finance
http://webapps.nyc.gov:8084/CICS/fin1/find001I
PropertyShark http://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Accounts/logon.html
iv) Certificate of Occupancy
(1) NYC Department of Buildings
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bsqpm01.jsp
v) Information on Neighborhood, city and street
(1) NYC Office of Operations “My Neighborhood Statistics”
http://gis.nyc.gov/ops/mmr/address.jsp?app=MMR
(2) Infoshare (extremely detailed census information)
http://infoshare.org/
(3) Map/Graphical info
http://www.myciti.org/make_a_map_citi2.html and/or
http://www.oasisnyc.net/OASISMap.htm
vi) Ownership history and information to contact owner
vii)Documents filed with County Clerk
ACRIS http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/Coverpage.dll/index
viii) Filed Liens
ix) Legal and administrative decisions
OATH New York City Administrative Decisions
x) Legal descriptions (i.e., metes & bounds)

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xi) Mortgages (filed)
xii)Past and Outstanding Violations
(1) Open Violations HPD Registration
(2) Department of Buildings, Building Information Services (BIS)
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bispi00.jsp
xiii) Boiler Information
xiv) Emergency repairs
HPD Registration http://167.153.4.71/hpdonline/provide_address.aspx
xv) Landmark Status
(1) NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/home/home.shtml
(2) NYC Department of Buildings
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/bsqpm01.jsp
(3) Property Shark
xvi) Job Permits
(1) Department of Buildings, Building Information Services (BIS)
xvii) Elevator Records (Inspection and Violation)
11. Maps & photos
i) Pictures of Property
(1) Google Earth (free download at http://earth.google.com/ ) satellite,
some aerial change POV
(2) Windows Live (map, aerial, satellite change POV)
http://local.live.com/
(3) A9 (maps, street level) http://maps.a9.com/
(4) Google Maps (map & satellite) http://maps.google.com/
(5) Yahoo Local Maps (Beta) (map & satellite)
http://maps.yahoo.com/beta/#maxp=search&q1=us
(6) Mapquest (maps) http://www.mapquest.com/
(7) MSN Maps http://mappoint.msn.com/
(8) Microsoft Terraserver (aerial, topographic)
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/
(9) US Geological Survey Maps
http://nmviewogc.cr.usgs.gov/viewer.htm
(a) Multiple overlays

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For the Professional
Attorneys using these investigative sources, as well as the analogous LexisNexis
and Westlaw searches should be aware of the privacy parameters of state and federal
statutes, such as the Driver Privacy Protection Act,1
the Fair Debt Collection Practices
Act,2
the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act3
and New York Fair Credit Reporting Act,4
which provide both civil and criminal penalties for improper invasion of privacy and
improper dissemination or use of protected information.
Legal/Investigative (subscription)
1. LexisNexis http://www.lexisnexis.com/
2. Westlaw http://web2.westlaw.com/
DMV Dial-In Account
1. Application: http://www.nysdmv.com/forms/mv15com.pdf
2. Description (User Manual) http://www.nysdmv.com/forms/mv15dial.pdf
Data Brokers (subscription)
1. Accurate Credit http://accuratecredit.com/
2. Accurint http://www.accurint.com/
3. Acxiom http://www.acxiominsight.com/
4. Intelius http://www.intelius.com/
5. IRBSearch, LLC http://www.irbsearch.com/
6. KnowX http://www.knowx.com/
7. LocatePlus http://www.locateplus.com/
8. Merlin Data https://www.merlindata.com/
9. SearchSytems.net http://www.searchsystems.net/ (free + subscription)
10.USSearch.com http://www.ussearch.com/consumer/index.jsp
Credit Bureaus –
1. Equifax http://www.equifax.com/biz/index.shtml
2. Experian http://www.experian.com/business_services/index.html
3. Transunion http://www.transunion.com/corporate/business/business.page
1
18 USC 2721 et seq.
2
15 USC 1692 et seq.
3
15 USC 1681 et seq.
4
GBL 380 et seq.

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The Internet Is Not A Panacea
1. Why the internet is not enough
a) Many sites are not monitored by anyone for correctness
b) Sites/pages may not be updated
2. What else you have to do (minimally)
a) Title report
b) Engineer report
c) Inspection of premises
d) Rent roll, financials
e) Walk-around
Determining A Tenant’s Primary Residence
1. Illegal Sublet and Non-Primary Residence Cases
a) Building a Case
i) Hire a PI
ii) Tools
(1) Zaba Search (free + purchase) http://www.zabasearch.com/
(2) MerlinData (subscription) http://www.merlindata.com/
(3) PeopleFinders (free + purchase) http://www.peoplefinders.com/
(4) US Search (free + purchase)
http://www.ussearch.com/consumer/index.jsp
(5) KnowX (purchase) http://www.knowx.com/
(6) Date of birth (not all and not always easy to determine by name:
http://www.birthdatabase.com/
(7) Reverse directories – if you have an address or telephone number
(a) Langenberg.com http://www.langenberg.com/
(b) Skiptools http://www.skiptools.com/
(c) Infospace http://www.infospace.com/home/white-pages/reverse-phone
and http://www.infospace.com/home/white-pages/reverse-address
(d) Netscape
http://wp.netscape.com/netcenter/whitereverse.html?cp=tec_1b
(e) Infobel http://www.infobel.com/usa/wp/revsearch/ and
http://www.infobel.com/usa/wp/addsearch/
2. Researching a Person
a) Always do one or more general searches
b) Public records directories:
i) Search Systems http://www.searchsystems.net/
ii) BRB Publications http://www.brbpub.com/pubrecsites.asp
iii) PublicRecordFinder.com http://www.publicrecordfinder.com/
iv)
c) Department of Motor Vehicles http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/
i) Beware the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA)
(1) Text: http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/forms/mv15dppa.pdf
(2) Civil & criminal penalties for violation

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ii) Need MV-15GC – Authorization for Release of Personal Information plus
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/forms/mv15gc.pdf
iii) MV-15 – Request for Driving and/or Vehicle Record Information
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/forms/mv15.pdf
d) Property Address
i) Same investigation as above, however local governmental agencies
e) Social Security
i) Usually unavailable
f) Voting Records
i) NYC Board of Elections http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/offices.html
ii) Check in all jurisdictions suspected to be primary residence
g) Campaign contributions
i) Opensecrets.org http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/index.asp
ii) Political Moneyline
http://www.tray.com/cgi-win/indexhtml.exe?MBF=NAME
iii) Campaignmoney.com http://www.campaignmoney.com/advanced.asp
iv) NYS Board of Elections
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/finance/contribandexpend.htm
v) Other State (reference articles)
http://www.llrx.com/columns/roundup10.htm#ny and
http://www.llrx.com/columns/roundup25.htm
h) Banking – send her a refund check
i) Licensed professions – licensing authority, disciplinary authority

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