How to Research NYC Property Information & History
If you require details about a property or home in New York City, a wealth of information is available online for free. You may find, for example, a chronological history of the assessed property value; a list of sequential owners; and — in some cases — photographs taken at various times. The instructions below begin where typical preliminary research ends: after the completion of routine Google searches, chats with neighbors and a conversation with the real estate agent.
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Instructions
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Acquire the "parcel identifier" BBL — which stands for borough, block, lot — with a search by address using the NYC Finance Property Address Search. Write down the full BBL or parcel number. View the history of the property value while at this website.
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Visit the document search options page of the website for the office of the city register for the New York City Department of Finance. Select "Parcel Identifier." Enter the BBL. Review the list of
documents on the property, including deeds, mortgages and liens. Click "IMG" to see an actual scanned copy of each document. Note the names of previous owners. -
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Locate and contact the previous owners to ask questions about their experiences with the property.
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Access the Social Security Death Index through the RootsWeb website to eliminate anyone from your research who has died.
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Request a history of the property from the New York City Police Department if you believe a crime may have occurred at the address.
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References
- Photo Credit David Shankbone. The image file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.
