"as well as the suggestion to get the CD from the FAA, $10 and you can see all the MX and ownership records."

This is not accurate.

Many repairs will not be documented on the CD.
Minor repairs are not required to be submitted to the FAA, and the reporting step is often missed or ignored for many major repairs.



Ive seen multiple glides with ugly illegal major repairs that were not documented in the logbooks and not documented on the FAA CD.
Those aircraft where flying in that condition and passing annuals for years.