[quote author="IrvineRealtor" date=1257200492][quote author="buylowsellhigh" date=1257193370]Hi, was wondering if there is any type of tool, available to the public, to look up sale price/history/ownership/loan similar to residential homes, but for commercial properties? I'm in the process of looking for a commercial property to lease.. And being in a property that goes into default (or has a bad management that gets sued all the time) would be a big $20-30k disaster for a business... Think... lost deposits, relocation cost, TI's. Thanks

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If you want to look for yourself - <a href="http://www.loopnet.com">www.loopnet.com</a>
I'd really recommend that you get help with a pro who specializes in the particular area of commercial that you're looking for (industrial, retail, office, or ???).
<em>(pssst. The MLS is worse than useless for current commercial property info.)</em>
Good luck,
-IR2</blockquote>
MLS is not good for current commercial real estate information, but you can get the sales price, ownership info, loan history, and assessor information like you can with residential properties. Loopnet is good for looking at current lease and sale listings (it's also go to go to larger commercial real estate broker website sites such as Grubb & Ellis, CB Richard Ellis, Lee & Associates, etc) but the best information for recent comp data is CoStar which is about a $20k a year subscription service that larger lenders and investors typically purchase.