Its amazing
I'm constantly amazed at the information you can find on the web. We are refinancing and a friend of mine and I were discussing apprasials. Me mentioned that I could go check a web site that has the public records for housing. You can look up any address (by name, owner's name, etc.) and it will show you the purchase histroy. You can also do a "comparable search", which will list houses that compare to yours, so you can get an idea of what your house is worth.

I'm a software engineer... and one of the people helping drive on the information out there. It just seems kind of weird to me that with a few clicks I can find out this kind of information about people... But it is useful when you are trying to refiance... and it is all public record.