How to Look Up Property Records
How to Look Up Property Records
People in real estate or the civil law field need to know how to look up property records. Anyone can do a property lookup, because housing records fall under the public domain.
Even if you are a lawyer or a real estate broker, it might be important to you to know who owns and has owned a house or piece of land. This might include a prospective buyer, a tax official or a city planner.
Know Your Location
First, you’ll need to know the name of the county the property you’re looking up is in. Google the name of the town you’re researching, or call the city hall of the town in question.
Once you know the county you’re searching property information in, you’ll be able to find the info you’re looking for.
Collect Property Information
To do a property lookup, you’ll need one of three pieces of information: the name of a property owner you’re wanting to research, the address of a property you’re wanting to research or the permanent parcel number or PPN of the property in question.
Once you have one form of identification, you’ll have information to look up when you find the county property records.
Find the County Website
Once you have the county’s name, go to its website and look through the links on their homepage, until you find the property records.
If you can’t find the property records page, you’ll have to find the County Auditor’s website and research housing records that way. This might make your task harder, but should work. It’s a shame that every county hasn’t made their public information easier to access, especially since it’s the law. Some of the big counties are just as much to blame.
County Auditor’s Website
Those who have to go to the Auditor’s Site should find the link that says something like “Property Tax Information”. Other options are “Appraisal” or “Appraisal and Data”.
Search Property Information
Because taxes are assessed according to factors like size, the year the home was built and the number of rooms, you’ll be able to find this information out when looking up the home records.
Other data you can find includes “comparable sales”, so you get an idea of the approximate value of the home or property.
Check the Recorder’s Page
If you’re looking for mortgages, mechanic liens and tax liens on a piece of property, go to the county website and check out the County Recorder’s link. Once again, you’ll need property information to look up a certain property.
As always, the more information you have on the property (PPN, home owner or mailing address), the quicker your search should go. Get all three if you can.
Finally, as you’re learning how to look up property records, never pay for a lookup service. Once again, all of this is public information you have a right to see as a citizen of this country with Freedom of Information rights, so someone wanting to sell you this information might as well be selling you air.
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How Does a Business Background Check Work?
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How to Get a Criminal Background Check on Yourself
How to Get a Criminal Record
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Address Records, Housing records. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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