How to Contact the Owner of a Property Found on Tax Records

Perhaps you would like to buy a property. Or maybe you would prefer to lease or rent it. But before you do that, you need to check the property ownership records to determine whether the property has any liens attached to it or if you want to communicate with the owner. You may also need to do a property owner lookup if the property is vacant and there is no realtor who can help you.

The good news is that you have several find owner by address options. However, the process for how to find contact details of a property owner on tax records may be challenging. Therefore, it would help if you were prepared to put some time, effort and maybe even some money into the property owner lookup.

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To find property ownership records, you need to inquire for information in person or online from the county clerk’s office within the department of lands or county recorder of deeds office. Check these records within the tax appraisal district or county in which the property is located. Also, your local tax assessor’s office or county courthouse may provide the records that you need.

If a property straddles the county line and you don’t find its records in the county you think it belongs to, consider searching the neighboring county’s public records as well. If you have no idea where to start your search, simply find the nearest county or municipal office and ask for help.

It may be much easier to find out who owns land online if you know what to do. When searching online, consider using the county in which the property is located and add the terms “county clerk’s office,” “county recorder of deeds office,” “property case search” or “tax assessor’s office.” And then, use the available property search tool.

If you want a deeper look into the history of the land you are interested in, the online national archives will be helpful. One digital resource available under the Bureau of Land Management provides 5 million federal land title records issued since 1788. Another is available via the National Archives Catalog website.

To find the owner of a property in public records for free, you must be ready to perform the search on your own. If someone does the work on your behalf, you may need to pay.

Below are the steps you can take.

• Determine what kind of records you need. For historical records, your search will be different from the regular property records available to the public.
• Determine where your county’s property records are kept.
• Gather some details concerning the property in question, including the county, street name, land parcel number, zip code, etc. Generally, the more information you have, the easier your search will be.
• Using the property details you already have, conduct a free property title search by address or name online or in person at the relevant offices. You can also use other online property search tools such as Netronline, which has a large database of public records.
• Note down the details of the property, including the property owner’s contact details if they are available.

Finding the contact details of the property owner is just the beginning. You must take the extra step of establishing a relationship that will help you get what you need.

If you find the contact details of the property owner, such as a mailing address, you should send a letter to the person in question and ask for additional contact information even as you start to establish a business relationship.

However, there may be other ways you can find additional contact information, especially if the property owner is unreachable by mail. Below are some of the strategies you can use.

• Ask the neighbors living near the property whether the property owner left a forwarding address and get it. Also, ask whether the person makes regular visits to the property.
• Visit the property on a day when the neighbors mention the person tends to visit in the hopes of meeting the property owner in person.
• Speak with the county offices that keep public records and inquire whether there is an updated address for the property owner.
• Using a reverse search platform such as 411.com, use the available address to find the property owner’s phone number and other contact details. Whitepages is another alternative platform you could use. And then use those details to communicate with that person.

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