how to find owner of a property

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• Address & Lot
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Whether you demand to find the owners of a dilapidated piece of property that needs cleaning up, or desire to make an offer on your dream belongings that isn't withal for auction, locating the names of a property owner can be as easy as knocking on a door or as fourth dimension-consuming every bit requesting copies of public tax records at the county assessor's part. If all attempts to act every bit your ain private investigator fail, you lot can always pay a professional to perform a comprehensive property records search to find the property owners.

1. 1

   Contact the county revenue enhancement assessor. If in that location'southward a piece of property, someone is paying taxation on information technology – or not. If the owner is delinquent on their taxes, the land and county volition be looking for them too.

   • If property taxes aren't current, the county may prevent on the property and sell it at public auction.^[1]
   • If you become to the website of the taxation assessor in the county where the property is located, you may exist able to search records online. In more rural counties, you lot may accept to go to the tax assessor'southward office or your local public library and search paper records.^[2]
   • In most cases, if you know the street accost of the holding, you lot can search the canton database that manner. You'll get the most precise results if y'all've adamant the plat number or the lot and block of the holding.
   • The tax records will include the proper name and contact information of the property possessor.
   • Tax records as well may include item about the well-nigh recent appraisement of the property, including its dimensions, number of rooms, blazon of heating or ac, and other property features.^[3]
   • If the belongings has a tax lien or deficiency, the owners may be more than willing to sell the property just to become rid of the debt.^[iv]

2. 2

   Call 411 directory assistance. If you have the owner's proper name and the address of the property, you may be able to get a telephone number.

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3. iii

   Consult other public records such every bit holding deeds. Since belongings deeds must be recorded, you can take a trip to the county recorder's part and pull upwards the deed to the belongings.^[v]

   • The recorder of deeds is responsible for maintaining public records of all land ownership and transfers.^[6]
   • In most counties, the recorder'due south function is located in the county courthouse.^[7]
   • Some recorder's offices may even have these records online for you to search, especially if the property is in a major metropolitan area.^[eight]
   • The deed records the transfer of property, and then yous not only find the current owner of record, just as well who they purchased the property from and if in that location are any liens on the belongings.^[9]
   • Deeds also will be easier to search if you've determined the plat or lot number of the property, since the plat number is the only information required for the legal description of the property on the deed.^[10]

4. 4

   Use an online holding search tool. Websites such as propertyshark.com search all public records to provide yous a single report with detailed holding data including tax and sales history.^[11]

   • Y'all may have to pay a fee to utilize some of these search tools, or to access a full written report with your complete search results.

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1. 1

   Inquire the nearest neighbor if they know the property possessor. Neighbors may be willing to reveal important information well-nigh other owners that would be difficult to obtain elsewhere.

   • If local residents are familiar with the owners of the property, you tin learn if the owners are outgoing people.

2. 2

   Scope out the neighborhood. Especially if the property is a home y'all desire to purchase, assess the condition of the surrounding lots. If the entire neighborhood looks run-downward and abandoned, the search may not be worth your time.

   • Don't hang effectually too much or the neighbors may start to get suspicious. If y'all talk to anyone, or if anyone approaches you and asks you what y'all're doing, be up front about your intentions. Specially if yous want to buy the property, you lot don't want to start off on the incorrect foot with people who might i day be your neighbors.

3. iii

   Get the belongings address. You may have to talk to neighbors to figure out the street address, particularly if at that place are several houses in a row with no visible street numbers.

   • You lot volition need the address to search public records for the property owner'south identity every bit well.

4. 4

   Send a postcard to the holding'southward address. This is an unobtrusive way to introduce yourself and make your intentions known.

   • Send it through the post, don't merely exit it in the box or on the property. If the owners have moved elsewhere, information technology's possible they have the mail forwarded to a unlike address.
   • If the property is truly abased, this isn't likely, but it's worth a shot.
   • Include your name and a telephone number on the post card, besides equally the reasons you are contacting the possessor.

5. 5

   Make up one's mind the plat or lot and cake of the property. This survey system is most frequently used to package out subdivisions in suburban areas, or define property boundaries in a densely populated urban expanse.^[12]

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1. one

   Talk to a existent manor agent. If you lot run into signs in nearby yards for a particular existent estate agent, give them a call and ask about the belongings. An agent selling other houses or holding in the area is likely to have knowledge about the neighborhood.

   • In improver to noesis almost the neighborhood including general demographics and property value trends, a existent estate agent has contact with title search companies and other professional resource.
   • A real estate agent's professional connections can enable her to find information about a property owner much faster than you lot could on your own.

2. 2

   Contact a title visitor. Since championship companies routinely perform searches to articulate title on properties, and record deeds subsequently title transfers, they have easy admission to accurate, current information on a property.

   • If you lot want to buy the property, connecting with a title search company will be essential, because you will need a complete and accurate history of the holding'southward title and its value.^[13]
   • A title company isn't going to conduct a title search for gratuitous. Title search fees, which typically run between $200 and $400, ordinarily would be included in the general closing costs when you were buying a house.^[14] A title search contained of a home sale might toll more, depending on the company you contact.

3. three

   Find a skip tracer. Skip tracers, like bounty hunters, are professionals who discover people who've "skipped" out and can't be located by usual means. Skip tracers are familiar with and accept admission to a number of databases that may not exist bachelor to the general public.^[fifteen]

   • Skip tracers also may interview neighbors, relatives, or other sources and conduct surveillance on the property if necessary to locate the owner.
   • Independent skip tracers often work with bounty hunters, bail bondsmen, and private investigators.^[16]

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Add New Question

• Question

  How practice I observe past and current owners of a property?

  

  Ryan Baril is the Vice President of CAPITALPlus Mortgage, a boutique mortgage origination and underwriting company founded in 2001. Ryan has been educating consumers virtually the mortgage process and full general finance for nigh xx years. He graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2012 with a B.S.B.A. in Marketing.

  

  VP, CAPITALPlus Mortgage

  Expert Answer

  In the Usa, y'all can look upwardly the accost on the County'due south Property Appraiser or Tax Collector website to see the current and past owners.

• Question

  How can I find the possessor of land that doesn't have an accost?

  

  Ryan Baril is the Vice President of CAPITALPlus Mortgage, a bazaar mortgage origination and underwriting company founded in 2001. Ryan has been educating consumers well-nigh the mortgage process and general finance for almost 20 years. He graduated from the Academy of Central Florida in 2012 with a B.S.B.A. in Marketing.

  

  VP, CAPITALPlus Mortgage

  Expert Answer

  You will need to find the Packet ID number and so enter that into the County'due south Property Appraiser website. Most County Property Appraiser sites accept a map tool that you can utilise to notice the Packet ID Number.

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Article Summary X

To find the owners of a property you're interested in, contact your county tax assessor to learn who is paying for the property taxes. Assuming the owners pay their taxes, yous should be able to get their name. From hither, you tin call 411 directory assistance to get their telephone number, every bit long as you have both the possessor'south name and address. In some cases, yous may want to consult other public records every bit well, such every bit belongings deeds, which the county recorder's part can pull up for you. Alternatively, you could endeavor using an online belongings search tool, which may take already compiled all of the information you lot need into a unmarried report. However, keep in mind that you will most likely take to pay a fee to access the information. For more tips from our Legal co-author, like how to discover property owners by talking to their neighbors, keep reading.

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