How to Find a Property Land Owner
During the housing boom and bust of the mid to late 2000s, there were cases involving sneaky "real estate investors" who claimed ownership of abandoned homes and land plots that they did not actually own. These "investors" were somehow able to complete sales and reap profits from property that wasn't theirs, and the home buyers were left holding the bag. To avoid this situation, you should do your own private search to find out who is the true owner of any property or land you are thinking about buying and contact the owner directly.
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Instructions
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Visit your county's or city's main website (courts or government services) and navigate to either the "Public Records" or "Property Tax" division. Enter the full address of the property. The system will give you the most recent ownership records for the property in question.
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Go to the local county courthouse in the town where the property is located. If the land or house is located in a large city, you will be going to City Hall and asking for the public records office.
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Give the clerk the property address and request the name and most current address of the property or land owner. This is public information. You may be required to record your name as inquiring about the home.
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Call a title company in your area and ask for information about the property. The title company is the entity that files deeds for property for land and homeowners. Title companies also maintain records about homes in the area.
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Look up the property records online at HomeInfoMax (see "Resources"). You will be able to search for property owners in all 50 states by simply inputting the address. With this service you need to pay---there are packages for two searches, 12 searches or unlimited access. This service is worthwhile and convenient if you are a real estate investor who frequently needs to do property information searches.
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Tips & Warnings
You can find your county's government administration website by entering the county name, state and either "courthouse" or "city hall" into a search engine. If you have a Realtor, he will be able to do the deed search on your behalf and find the property or land owner. If the property is a house that is being rented, you can simply send a letter in the owner's name to contact him or her. Most likely it will be forwarded on to the right address eventually. You may also be able to do a white pages reverse address check to find out who lives at a home, but keep in mind that white pages records may be outdated, and the person who is listed as living at the house may not be the actual property owner.
