How to Find Property Owners

Public Records

Contact the county tax assessor. If there's a piece of property, someone is paying tax on it – or not. If the owner is delinquent on their taxes, the state and county will be looking for them too. If property taxes aren't current, the county may foreclose on the property and sell it at public auction. If you go to the website of the tax assessor in the county where the property is located, you may be able to search records online. In more rural counties, you may have to go to the tax assessor's office or your local public library and search paper records. In most cases, if you know the street address of the property, you can search the county database that way. You'll get the most precise results if you've determined the plat number or the lot and block of the property. The tax records will include the name and contact information of the property owner. Tax records also may include detail about the most recent appraisal of the property, including its dimensions, number of rooms, type of heating or air conditioning, and other property features. If the property has a tax lien or deficiency, the owners may be more willing to sell the property just to get rid of the debt.

Call 411 directory assistance. If you have the owner's name and the address of the property, you may be able to get a telephone number.

Consult other public records such as property deeds. Since property deeds must be recorded, you can take a trip to the county recorder's office and pull up the deed to the property. The recorder of deeds is responsible for maintaining public records of all land ownership and transfers. In most counties, the recorder's office is located in the county courthouse. Some recorder's offices may even have these records online for you to search, especially if the property is in a major metropolitan area. The deed records the transfer of property, so you not only find the current owner of record, but also who they purchased the property from and if there are any liens on the property. Deeds also will be easier to search if you've determined the plat or lot number of the property, since the plat number is the only information required for the legal description of the property on the deed.

Use an online property search tool. Websites such as propertyshark.com search all public records to provide you a single report with detailed property information including tax and sales history. You may have to pay a fee to use some of these search tools, or to access a full report with your complete search results.

Address & Lot

Ask the nearest neighbor if they know the property owner. Neighbors may be willing to reveal important information about other owners that would be difficult to obtain elsewhere. If local residents are familiar with the owners of the property, you can learn if the owners are approachable people.

Scope out the neighborhood. Especially if the property is a home you want to purchase, assess the condition of the surrounding lots. If the entire neighborhood looks run-down and abandoned, the search may not be worth your time. Don't hang around too much or the neighbors may start to get suspicious. If you talk to anyone, or if anyone approaches you and asks you what you're doing, be up front about your intentions. Especially if you want to buy the property, you don't want to start off on the wrong foot with people who might one day be your neighbors.

Get the property address. You may have to talk to neighbors to figure out the street address, particularly if there are several houses in a row with no visible street numbers. You will need the address to search public records for the property owner's identity as well.

Send a postcard to the property's address. This is an unobtrusive way to introduce yourself and make your intentions known. Send it through the mail, don't just leave it in the box or on the property. If the owners have moved elsewhere, it's possible they have the mail forwarded to a different address. If the property is truly abandoned, this isn't likely, but it's worth a shot. Include your name and a phone number on the post card, as well as the reasons you are contacting the owner.

Determine the plat or lot and block of the property. This survey system is most frequently used to parcel out subdivisions in suburban areas, or define property boundaries in a densely populated urban area.

Professional Help

Talk to a real estate agent. If you see signs in nearby yards for a particular real estate agent, give them a call and ask about the property. An agent selling other houses or property in the area is likely to have knowledge about the neighborhood. In addition to knowledge about the neighborhood including general demographics and property value trends, a real estate agent has contact with title search companies and other professional resources. A real estate agent's professional connections can enable her to find information about a property owner much faster than you could on your own.

Contact a title company. Since title companies routinely perform searches to clear title on properties, and record deeds after title transfers, they have easy access to accurate, current information on a property. If you want to buy the property, connecting with a title search company will be essential, because you will need a complete and accurate history of the property's title and its value. A title company isn't going to conduct a title search for free. Title search fees, which typically run between $200 and $400, normally would be included in the general closing costs when you were buying a house. A title search independent of a home sale might cost more, depending on the company you contact.

Find a skip tracer. Skip tracers, like bounty hunters, are professionals who find people who've "skipped" out and can't be located by usual means. Skip tracers are familiar with and have access to a number of databases that may not be available to the general public. Skip tracers also may interview neighbors, relatives, or other sources and conduct surveillance on the property if necessary to locate the owner. Independent skip tracers often work with bounty hunters, bail bondsmen, and private investigators.