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There is a vast amount of information available online these days for real estate investors and the general public to access public real estate records information. Try "Googling" 'real estate property records' or 'real estate records' and a number of sites will come up. However, the best place to start your search is the county tax appraiser's and the county recorder's offices. Each state may have a slightly different procedure.
Most state property taxes are assessed through the tax appraiser's office. You can get the current tax information which also includes the owner's name and contact information, the property taxes assessed for the current year, as well as records of previous years. The information varies, but usually also contains the number of bedrooms, baths, sq. footage and lot size of the property, year built, and the last "sold" date. There will also be an APN or similar type of number, which is a number assigned by the appraiser's office and the identification number of the property for legal purposes.
The next place to look will be the public records in the county recorder's office. All deeds and liens are recorded in the county recorder's office, as well as easements and use restrictions on the property, condominium association covenants, conditions and restrictions, judgments, notices of defaults and notices of sales, and other pending litigation documents. The legal description of the property is usually on the deed or you can get the information from the title company.
Title companies can also obtain information regarding the property real estate records such as the current owner's name and contact information, if a title policy was issued, copies of any underlying documents, and a preliminary title report, which will give you the legal description and the chain of title on the property as well as any property use restrictions.
Most Multiple Listing Service (MLS) systems have access to public tax information. You can pretty much obtain the same information from the MLS as from the assessor's office. You will probably not be able to access any recorded documents, though. That must be done through the county recorder's public search or through the title company.
In states where real estate closings are handled by attorneys such as in Florida, the attorney acting as the title-closing agent can obtain property information and conduct title and name searches for you.
The National Association of Realtors® and local Realtor® Associations have online data about real estate sales nationally and locally, and the data usually includes median sales and listing prices. Sometimes sold prices and numbers and median averages of home sales as well as foreclosure sales are also available.
Websites like www.Realtor.com, www.Zillow.com, www.realestate.yahoo.com also all have information about properties for sale and other real estate-related information, articles, and blogs as well as links to other real estate service companies and mortgage information.
Right now there are numerous websites online giving foreclosure information as well. Some for a fee and others are free. Data Quick and RealtyTrac are two sites that collect data about home sales and foreclosures that are very reliable sources.
As you can see there are numerous sources for researching real estate properties and ensuring a successful transaction as you purchase a new home or expand your investment portfolio.
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