Boston

[Martini_Time]

Is there a way to tell for sure, by checking tax rolls or public records, whatever -- whether a particular condo is currently owner-occupied or rented?  

Thanks

[curt_schulz]

I'd say no.  There are no requirements for an owner to report or list whether they occupy a unit or not to the town and town records only list property owner.  Sometimes a Condo Assocaition limits the number of rented units in a building so you could check with them.  

[Blueberry]

If the county/town records show a different mailing address for the owner than at the condo itself, it *might* indicate that the owner is not living at the condo (not always the case, of course). Tax bills and other things still have to go to the owner, so if they are not living at the condo, they likely need to have a different mailing address. However, I'd say that you could also have a different mailing address for other reasons (temporarily away, such as live in Florida for the winter, or some other reason why your mail has to go somewhere besides the house [you get all your mail at a post office box or something like that]).

[brianscott]

All the doubts that I was having regarding identifying whether a particular condo is currently owner-occupied or rented has been cleared now after reading the above post..Thanks for explaining..

[MassLoanOfficer]

Additionally, towns that include a residential exemption for taxes (there are 13 in mass, I think . . . cambridge, somerville, waltham, boston, watertown, malden being the biggies locally) will have the information onfile with the assessor (the current taxes will be reduced and vary from the assessors calculation). This info can be up to 12-18 months out of date, though, but it is worth a quick call or look.