GIS department?

Question

I am in search of finding out the names of property owners and how many properties they may own in a particular county. I was told that I could do this via the assessors office and/or the GIS department. I don't know what GIS means but can someone please advise me how to find the owner names and to see how how many property they own?

My objective is to see who are the major investors in my area.

Ryan Bergeron · Answer

GIS stands for Geospatial Information System.  It is basically a computerized mapping system that allows for collection, storage, and display of various types of geographic information.  Most municipalities  nowadays use these to store their property data.  In many small towns (such as the one for which I work) the GIS database is administered by the Assessor or Tax Collector (with the help of a GIS contractor).  Other departments will typically use them too.  If your municipality is large enough, they are likely to have a centralized, in-house GIS person to do this.  If you go to the town hall and ask around, someone should be able to point you in the right direction.  I would suggest learning about GIS, as it is an extremely powerful tool for learning about an area and analyzing its investment potential.

Jill DeWit · Answer

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Hi Richard,

How much time do you have to spend on this? I have found that it makes much more sense to get a current list from a credible source that is easy to understand ( like the one I use that is part of First American Title). You can pay a few hundred $ a month (or less) and request exactly what you want, such as: 5-10 acres, in X county, zoned as residential or recreational, etc. You get the idea. I have requested lists from counties and spent HOURS trying to decipher the data. Even hiring a VA to do it, YOU need to first understand it to explain to someone else.

Holler if you want more info.

Jill

Marcello Di Gerlando · Answer

@Richard Rodriguez

I use GIS to help me with my due diligence. I checked your county website, which I found when I clicked on the county website link on Zillow.

Check any property listing in your county in Zillow look for the link that says - county website - follow it. tons of data. click on the property card tab and then click on the map button. It's a version of GIS I have never seen.

You may not find what you are looking for using the map feature but the other data may help you.

Here is a link to a property I was looking at on the Orange county website.

http://www.ocpafl.org/searches/ParcelSearch.aspx?p...

Good luck

Richard Rodriguez · Answer

I really appreciate everyones feedback!! Thank you so much!

@Hattie Dizmond - I as well input the owners name/address to get the info but if I don't know the names or even addresses of the players, this tool is of no use for me. Pulling cash transactions in the last 12 months is probably the only the way I'm going to know. Thanks!

John Kent · Answer

Orange County Tax Appraiser website will let you search the Tax Roll by name.

Hattie Dizmond · Answer

@Richard Rodriguez

You got great answers about GIS.  However, a GIS service is not going to help you locate owner information.  It has been my experience that  - at least in Texas - a county's GIS services are owned & maintained by the Tax Assessor's office.  Regardless, the tax rolls are where you are going to find owner information.

Each site is or can be different.  In most of the area sites I can search by either owner name or property address.  So, I could see all the properties owned by a single entity, but only within that particular county and only if I already know the name.  Because the DFW Metroplex is made up of all/part of at least (in the narrowest definition) 5 counties, I would have to do that same search 5 times.  And, i would still have to know the name I'm searching for.

If you're simply looking to see who the major players are in your area, your easiest route is probably to reach out to your realtor and ask them to pull all cash sales in the last 12-months.

Also, you're in Orlando.  That's a big area.  Are you really interested in the entire town, or can you narrow your focus to a handful of zip codes where properties general match your criteria?

Dennis Weber · Answer

Google <your county>GIS

GIS department?

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