Online House Hunting

How can you find the title owner of a piece of land?

My wife and I are going to build our own house this year, and are in the process of finding a lot to build on. We have several locations where we would like to build. They are not listed for sale. We would like to find out who owns the land and make an offer to purchase. My question is: How can I find out who owns the property? Can I get this info thru public records?

Public Comments

1. It is public recorder. County assessor's office probably has the info online actually. I'd start there. You might have to go to a county courthouse, but it is info that is documented.
2. Go to your county recorders office. They have a public records search area, and usually a staff that can help you find what you are looking for. You may also wish to check the zonning department for your city, to make sure you can build on it what you want to build on it. If the property was used as aggricultural, there may be additional fees to change the use to residential or business. If they were paying aggricultural rates on their taxes, the change of use may result in adjusting the ammounts of their taxes for several years prior. You might end up with a tax bill larger than expected.
3. You can go to the local municipality in the town that the property is and they wil be able to tell you.
4. county records show who owns the property, check with the assessor's office, many county have online service so you can look from home
5. This information will be found at the county courthouse, but I'd save myself a lot of time snooping through files and folders. You can find this information online, but you'll probably have to pay a fee. Here's a site with some information about searching public records. http://www.findpublicrecordsnow.com/ Hope it helps!