Where to Find Property Records
The site zillow.com is the hottest and newest property valuation site on the web. It seems to show up on every blog and Yahoo Group that pertains to public records.
Zillow provides a free home valuation tool which includes square footage, bedroom/bathroom count, historical information, assessed value of homes in the area and a satellite map of the property and the surrounding neighborhood.
Nationwide Environmental Title Research (Netronline) has the most comprehensive collection of both online and offline county assessor, recorder and tax collector contact information.
If you are looking to see if someone owns a parcel of land, this page covers most states and counties - www.freeprf.com/property.html. This page also includes links to grant deed transfers and tax assessor information.
If the state or county of the property you need to obtain information does not have a free webservice, then I suggest Intelius. The Intelius property report is $14.95 and includes sales history, current value, lot size, property details, owners information, current mortgage, legal description & more.
The most comprehensive source for property records is through a title company. Unfortunately, title companies do not provide property information free online. An account needs to be set up and they do charge monthly fees to obtain their services. Titles companies provide information as to the current owner of a parcel of land, the property profile, whether there are any property liens, who was the prior owner, who signed for the title and much more information that would not be available through an online service.
The popular title companies are North American Title, Chicago Title and Stewart Title Company. Title companies will only set up accounts for real estate brokers, attorneys, mortgage and escrow companies and other real estate related companies.
Jay Rosenzweig is a licensed private investigator. He is the owner of California Investigation Services. He is also a past president of the California Association of Licensed Investigators.
Source: www.a1articles.com
