A property history search may not be one of your primary concerns during a real estate negotiation, and it should be. Knowing the previous owners of a home will tell you a great deal about how long that home might last you in the future. You may also need to track down these people for legal reasons if the current seller does not own the title outright. Regardless of why you need the previous owners, you must know how to find them. Here are the basics that you should know about the property history search.
Can my home inspector help me find out about the property history?
Just as the home inspector can give you information about the hiccups and nooks in your home, he might also be able to tell you where they came from as well. In some rare cases, the inspector may have done previous inspections for the same house. Even if he hasn’t, he may uncover a detail about the home that can lead to a proper investigation. Take a record of all inspections for your private records, because your other collaborators may need them.
Do the neighbors know anything about the property?
You may be able to find out about the previous owners through the neighbors. Do not be afraid to ask other people in the neighborhood if they have any recollection of the people who owned the home. Bring something to take notes with, because these records may help you once you look up the property through the legal system or in the local library.
What can I find out about a property from the local library?
If the municipality has any local publications, you may be able to find some of the history of your property in the records. You may also find events of note in records of the local newspaper. Old local records are sometimes the best way to find out about big events that may have done a great deal of damage to the property in the past. If you find your way into the library during a downtime, the librarian may actually be able to help you in your search. The library search may also be able to help you find census records on the property including the marital status of previous owners as well as the work permits, contracting organizations, and other local stats on the house.
What about the legal records that are kept on a property?
Once you have exhausted all of the informal ways to research a property, you will be ready to graduate into the legal records. It is usually a good strategy to save this for last, as looking up legal records may incur some cost and delays in finding records. If you can get the information that you need from an informal source, then you will not have to waste this money and time hunting around dusty county offices.
However, if you need legal records because of a discrepancy on the title or a contingency that needs some perspective, legal records are definitely the way to go. You can begin your search at the Register of Deeds in the county office, where all deed transactions are recorded. In order to find the property that you are looking for, you will need the address and the legal description of the property. You can find all historical transactions from the older records of the deed.
If you really need to go back in time, then you can check the Bureau of Land Management’s General Land office for the first record of the federal government selling the land to a private owner.
What about commercial sites?
If you need other kinds of records such as genealogical records, you can find them in commercial genealogical databases. Commercial records may also connect census records with property records in a more convenient format.
What if I do not know the address of the property that I want to research?
If you do not know the address because you are just looking at a property online or through a reference, there are still ways that you can look up the owner of the property. There are registrars that keep track of all property owners in an area. If you know the name of the person who owned the property at any time, you can search backwards or forwards for other owners as well as finding the information on the property itself.
What is my next move?
No matter what kind of information you want on a piece of property, you can get it from another type of information. No matter which of the above methods you choose to start with, always have as much information as you can get coming in. If you can figure out the address and one of the previous owner names, you will be in a very advantageous situation to find out the rest of the information on any property history that you want. If you are looking up records in the county office, be prepared to identify yourself and your reasons for wanting to know about the property or the owners in question, especially if you are looking up records about a deed. Some county offices charge a nominal fee for access to these records, so bring a few bucks.
2 Point Highlight
Old local records are sometimes the best way to find out about big events that may have done a great deal of damage to the property in the past.
If you know the name of the person who owned the property at any time, you can search backwards or forwards for other owners as well as finding the information on the property itself.
