Tips for quickly learning what jurisdiction a property is in?

Question

Does anyone have any tips for new investors that would allow them to quickly find out where a property lies? Such as what township, borough, or even county it is in. I am currently finding a property, then staring at various maps and essentially guessing as to where it falls, then researching codes and regulations in that area. There is probably an obvious solution, but can anyone help me become faster and more accurate at finding this information?

Thanks

-Zack

Thanks

-Zack

Zach Robbins · Answer

@Zachary Piatt are you speaking of Centre County? If so you can use their website. Note it's a pay per click setup but I've learned if you search for the property through maps first you'll save a lot of clicks versus searching through the other ways. Clicking around the maps doesn't count towards the click count.

https://webia.centrecountypa.gov/

Mitch Messer · Answer

Hey @Zachary Piatt, fortunately Zillow has done the hard work for you!

Here's the quick-and-dirty hack:

• Search Google for an address (e.g., "326 E Curtin St, Bellefonte, PA 16823")
• In the search results, click the Zillow property link (e.g., "https://www.zillow.com/homedet...") to go to the Zillow property page
• On the Zillow page, scroll down to the "Price and tax history" section and click the link to "Find assessor info on the county website"
• The county website page will tell you exactly in which county the property is located.
• Note: I just tried this and the county website didn't load. No matter: A quick glance at the URL ("http://gissites.co.centre.pa.u...") tells me that the county website is for Centre County, PA.

Pretty cool, no?

Thank you, Zillow!!

Zachary Piatt · Answer

@Zach Robbins thanks for tip, I had no idea that this service existed.  I was also trying to use some township/municipal websites to find zoning maps and to research codes/zoning, and I quickly learned that some of our local gov sites are pretty bad.  But I suppose that's probably the case in a lot of areas.

Zachary Piatt · Answer

@Mitch Messer Thank you!  I can't believe that I had never noticed that link.