If you’ve found a home or a plot of land that you’re interested in purchasing, there are several different ways you can go about trying to find who owns it. Let’s go over nine methods you can try to track down the owner of a property.
1. Visit The Local Assessor’s Office
If you’re scouting out a property, one of the first places you can try for owner information is your local tax assessor’s office. You may be able to look up a property there and find out not only who owns it, but how much they pay in property taxes – which is useful to know if you’re interested in buying the house or another property in the same area. Keep in mind that you may have to pay to access documents.
Another place you may be able to check is the county recorder or clerk’s office. A county recorder keeps track of lots of information, from records of births and deaths to deeds and other property ownership records. Property information is public record, so you may be able to find out not just who owns the property in question, but also some of the history of the home or land and who owned it prior.
3. Ask A Title Company
You could also check with a title company to inquire about the current ownership of a property. Title companies have the power to perform title searches, which can allow them to learn more information about the property than just the owner, such as whether there are liens on the property or other issues. A title search is not free and will generally cost you $75 – $200+ depending on your area. These searches are generally done as part of the process of closing a home loan to ensure the home’s title is clear of issues, but you could also use a title search to learn the true owner of a home and whether the property has any liens against it.
4. Talk With A Real Estate Agent
A real estate agent can also potentially help you find a property’s owner. Real estate agents have access to not only public property data that you could access yourself but also a database called the multiple listing service (MLS). Through the MLS, your agent might be able to find out if the home you’re interested in is for sale (or has been recently). Should the property be available, a real estate agent will also be useful in walking you through the home buying process.
5. Contact A Real Estate Attorney
If none of the above options have yielded results for you, you could also consider contacting a real estate attorney. An attorney may not have the records you need, but they could have ideas or information on how to find a property owner.
6. Search The Internet
If you don’t want to contact an attorney, agent or government official, you could also attempt to simply search the internet to find a property owner. There are plenty of websites that may share public property information if available, but keep in mind that this won’t always be accurate. Internet search results could be outdated or unreliable compared to some of the other methods of obtaining information in this list.
7. Visit Your Local Library
If your local library has public records or archives of local information, you could also search there for property ownership information. You may also be able to access your state or county’s property or land records online at a library.
8. Knock On The Door
If you don’t want to go digging around for records, there is one very simple solution that you could be overlooking – you can just go knock on the door. If there’s a house on the property, you might be able to get in contact with the owner if they’re home. Keep in mind that many property owners may not enjoy a stranger approaching their home, so an alternate method of making contact may be necessary. Consider leaving the homeowner a note or letter explaining your situation and any potential offer you’d like to make, along with your contact information.
9. Ask The Neighbors
If you want to contact a property owner and they’re not home (or they’re out of state or away for some other circ*mstance) you will have to find another way to get in touch. One way to do so is by contacting the neighbors. They may have a way for you to contact the owner – or, if you don’t want to speak to the owner, they might just have useful information about the property in general. Remember that, like contacting the homeowner, neighbors may not be thrilled about a stranger at their door either, so be courteous and leave a note if necessary.
At the county recorder's office, you can find information about the property owner, any liens that may be attached to the property, and details about title transfers.
As long as you know the property's location and county, you can typically get the information for free. Even if you need to print documents, these offices typically charge minimal fees. You can find the right county clerk or recorder through the Public Records Online Directory.
California state law prohibits the publishing of identifying information like a homeowner's name online without written permission from the owner. Property ownership information can be requested from the County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
On your local tax assessor's official website, you may be able to look up property tax records and find the property owner by their address. You can learn who owns the home as well as how much property tax they pay. This is a great way to find out who owns a property for free.
Is Ownerly safe to use / a legitimate company? Ownerly is a legitimate company that provides information for a fee. It was founded in 2018 by Josh Levy and Ross Cohen, and has its headquarters in New York City. In 2020 it was named one of HousingWire's Tech100 Real Estate winners.
The 1% rule of real estate investing measures the price of an investment property against the gross income it can generate. For a potential investment to pass the 1% rule, its monthly rent must equal at least 1% of the purchase price.
Determining Ownership Percentages in a Co-Owned House
One simple method is to allot ownership based on the amount of the purchase price each person paid, no matter how much of the property each person uses.
Who Is the Largest Landowner in the U.S.? The largest landowners in the United States are the Emmerson family, with 2,330,000 acres of land. Red Emmerson, the patriarch of the family, founded Sierra Pacific Industries in Anderson, CA.
Websites like Ancestry.com can be invaluable when researching your home's past. By searching the names of previous owners and people associated with the house, you can gain insights you might not find out otherwise. For example, you might learn that one of the previous owners was a cavalry officer during the Civil War.
To conduct a title search, you will need to provide the property's address or parcel number to the title company or attorney. They will then conduct a thorough search of public records, including county records offices and court records.
With very few exceptions, California is an “open records” state which means that documents relating to property transfers, financing and liens; property ownership, property characteristics, and value data are public record.
Government Code §7920.530 defines a public record as “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned, used or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics." The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training ( ...
In Georgia, property ownership records are public documents and freely accessible. You must first determine the address of the property and the county in which it is located. Documents for property transactions are recorded at the county level in the Superior Court clerk's office.
In order to conduct a property title search on your own without paying a lawyer or a title company, you should head to your county clerk's office. In Texas, each county clerk's office is responsible for keeping detailed property records – these records are public, and therefore available for you to view.
As long as you know a property's location, you can contact the county clerk's office to learn more about the owner. Florida has 67 counties. It's fairly easy to narrow down a property's county even when you have limited information about the location and tenants.
Deeds in Washington state are the domain of the recorder's office. Like the tax assessor's office, each county maintains its own recorder's office and website, and the records search may be slightly different for each.
Introduction: My name is Carlyn Walter, I am a lively, glamorous, healthy, clean, powerful, calm, combative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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