How to Find the History of a Home

There are many possible ways to research the history of a house and all require some detailed work. Using resources online and offline the history of a house can be patiently discovered. These are some tips on how to conduct a property's history research.

Instructions

1. Start by learning some of the basic facts and details about the home. This includes the description of the house you are looking into. The house number, the block/plot number and the location are all part of a house's description. Get the property's owner's names, this will help when searching County's records.

2. Visit the County's Clerk Office where the property is located in person or at the office's website. Generally, this office will have records of legal documents recorded through out the house history. Using the property's description or the owner's name, look for the recorded deeds. The deeds will generally tell you previous owner names, date of recording, official or legal description of the property.

3. Look for the property's tax records to learn more details about the house history. Look in the County's Tax or Finance department where the property is located for the tax assessments. These records will show you how much taxes were assessed on the property.

4. Review the property's market valuations provided in the tax records. Note any large increases in valuations; these may indicate a jump in real estate prices in the local area for a given period. It can also mean that the original house was expanded or remodeled. Another possibility may be a re-zoning of the neighborhood.

5. Find old local newspapers that may have articles or stories about the house. Visit the internet site Newspaper Archive.com. Do articles search by local newspaper names; search by the property's address or by the property's owner names.

6. Perform a Lien search on the property to learn more about its history. Search online for companies that provide lien search services. A lien on the house may reveal additional or remodeling work performed with dates.

7. Search for a professional house detective service on the internet or telephone directories. These are small companies that do research for properties and building's histories for a fee.

   Put it all together. Write down all your findings for references and for understanding the house history.